Project Summary: Siegel, L. (2019). Criminology: The core (7th ed.). Cengage Chapter 12: Economic Crimes: Blue-Collar, White-Collar, and Green-Collar Chapter 13: Public Order Crime A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. In many Ponzi schemes, the fraudsters focus on attracting new money to make promised payments to earlier-stage investors and to use for personal expenses, instead of engaging in any legitimate investment activity.