Ponzi Scheme

“…Perhaps buy some time by investing your capital! I hear of schemes every day that’ll double whatever’s put into them or triple it…or more… there’s a chap in America, what’s his name? Charles Ponzi who offers a huge return after ninety days!”- Robert Crawley, Downton Abbey

I just heard this quote on DA about 2 minutes ago. I'm shocked to learn that the term "Ponzi scheme" has been around for almost 100 years. Surely I've never heard anyone of my generation use the term but I have used it before, not knowing exactly who or what a Ponzi scheme was until now.