Definitions

Ponzi

[pon-zee] / ˈpɒn zi /

NOUN

confidence game

Synonyms

WEAK

bait and switch boiler room bunco game bunko con con game confidence trick flimflam hustle racket ripoff shell game skin game sting swindle

NOUN

con game

Synonyms

WEAK

bait and switch boiler room bunco game bunko con con job confidence trick flimflam hustle racket ripoff shell game skin game sting swindle

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The cattle empire that turned out to be a giant Ponzi scheme.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 8, 2026

In February, five people in a cattle business were indicted for an alleged $220 million Ponzi scheme.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026

However, Bernie Madoff was a fiduciary, and he violated the trust of his clients in a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 30, 2026

And Weizhen Tang, who calls himself a “Chinese Warren Buffett” in a LinkedIn profile, was convicted in 2013 of defrauding customers in a $50 million Ponzi scheme.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

They had the essential feature of a Ponzi scheme: To maintain the fiction that they were profitable enterprises, they needed more and more capital to create more and more subprime loans.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Ponzi

Example Sentences

Related Words