I never mentioned that the Ponzi scheme doesn't pay out money to early investors. Because this is exactly what makes the Ponzi scheme distinctive, when money is paid to early investors at the expense of those who joined later. "A Ponzi scheme also a Ponzi game is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme But in the end, any Ponzi scheme is a scam because it eventually stops paying out money.