Although the 2008 exposure of the financial misdeeds of Bernie Madoff allowed Ponzi scheme to enter the day to day vernacular, these schemes are not at all a new creation. Ponzi schemes pay off initial investors using money from new investors, relying on a constant cycle of recruitment in order to prevent the ruse…

What would you do to stay in the country you love? Would you trust a fellow foreigner—someone from your homeland—with your future, paying him up to $450 to join his US Army unit and get a fast-track to citizenship? These desperate, deceived immigrants did just that.

Human beings have been inventing ways to trick, swindle, and cheat one another since, well, always. And it just so happens that the season of giving perfectly coincides with the season of (unlawful) taking. Humbug!