The one thing I've noticed about Ponzi schemes is that the victims tend to have a religious affiliation. It probably makes sense to target these people as if they're dumb and gullable enough to believe in an invisible man in the sky, they'll believe anything.
lol, not sure there's a correlation, but it sure couldn't hurt. Check out the expression, it could have been a picture taken at his wedding.
Whilst working for a number of companies in the months after being released, Ponzi received an envelope from a Spanish company which contained an International Reply Coupon (IRC) which Ponzi had never seen before. He found a weakness in the coupon system, one which could potentially make him money. An International Reply Coupon is a coupon that can be exchanged for a number of postage stamps which represent the minimum postage for a priority air mail letter to another country. Ponzi realized that he could take advantage of the different postage costs in different countries to make him a profit. He could buy IRCs cheaply in one country and exchange them for more expensive stamps in another.
Ponzi persuaded investors to back the scheme, promising them a 50% return in 45 days, or even a 100% return in 90 days. He founded a company, the Securities Exchange Company, to run the scheme. He managed to repay his initial investors and word soon spread. Ponzi charged a higher rate as more investors arrived and by March 1920 he had personally made $328,000 in 2008 terms and by May 1920, he had made over $4 million in today's money.
Ponzi would send money to agents abroad who would buy IRCs. They would then send the IRCs back to the United States where Ponzi would exchange the coupon for stamps worth more than he had spent on the coupon originally.
Ok, I think I looked at a motorcycle owned by his great grandson over the weekend. I wish I had a picture as they could be twins. LOL I guess I won't be buying that cycle.