pyramid schemenoun [ C ]
uk/ˈpɪr.ə.mɪd ˌskiːm/us/ˈpɪr.ə.mɪd ˌskiːm/USa way of deceiving investors (= people giving money to a company hoping to get more back) in which money that a company receives from new customers is not invested to their advantage, but is used instead to pay debts owed to existing customers
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Fraud & corruption
- baksheesh
- blackmail
- buy sb off
- cook
- cook the books idiom
- corrupt
- corruption
- fraudulent accounting
- front for sth
- game-fixing
- get at sb
- graft
- impersonate
- imposture
- perjury
- Ponzi scheme
- rort
- shell
- siphon sth off
- suborn
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Stock markets