Charles Ponzi: The Original Scammer

Moms and Mysteries: A True Crime Podcast

Not Your Mom Media

True Crime, Society & Culture

4.6 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of Moms and Mysteries, we’re diving into the outrageous life and legendary lies of Charles Ponzi, the man whose name is now forever linked to financial fraud. Long before Bernie Madoff or crypto bros with ring lights, Ponzi was out here in the 1920s promising 50% returns in just 45 days… and somehow, people bought it.

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SOURCES

"Charles Ponzi - Scheme, Movie & Wife." Biography.com. Charles Ponzi - Scheme, Movie & Wife.
"Charles Ponzi | EBSCO Research Starters." EBSCO. Charles Ponzi | EBSCO Research Starters.
"Charles Ponzi's immortal financial scam : Planet Money : NPR." NPR. Charles Ponzi's scheme : Planet Money.
"Ponzi Schemes | Investor.gov." Investor.gov. Ponzi Schemes | Investor.gov.
"Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend - Mitchell Zuckoff - Google Books." Google Books. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RshbAA3v1kUC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=Charles+Ponzi+biography&ots=YztbTNhuie&sig=Ub0G9PJ3QpUqviwot3o5yGsNigI.

Transcript

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0:00.0	He turned postage stamps into promises and broke records for how fast you can set money on fire.
0:05.9	Today, we're taking a wild ride through the life of one of history's most infamous scammers.
0:10.7	I'm talking about the man whose name is now shorthand for,
0:13.8	you're probably going to lose all your money,
0:15.9	a man who could sell swampland in Florida and actually did.
0:20.1	The man is Charles Ponzi.
0:26.6	Hey guys and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast. A true crime podcast featuring myself,
0:32.6	Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa. Hi, Melissa. Hi, Mandy. How are you? I am doing well. We are getting ready for
0:39.8	CrimeCon here in about, I don't even know how many weeks I'm trying to, I'm trying to do the math in
0:47.4	my head right now. Yeah, only about three weeks. Yeah, so we are super excited for that. CrimeCon is
0:53.3	in Denver this year. If you have heard us talking about it, then you obviously already know that. But we would love to see you all there. So if anybody has been on the fence and was thinking about going to CrimeCon, but maybe hasn't taken that leap and bought their ticket yet. You can still get your standard badge for 10% off if you use R code Moms. So check that out. And we hope to see you guys there. Yay. So let's get into the story for this week. I am super excited to talk about this one. Melissa, you know, this is a case I've been saying like, we should cover the Charles Ponzi story. I've been saying it forever and just, yeah, I have been lazy and not
1:29.0	gotten around to actually looking into it until now. And I'm so glad that I finally did it,
1:33.9	because this story is really something. Did you know much about the Charles Ponzi story,
1:39.8	or did you just know what a Ponzi scheme was? I knew what a Ponzi scheme was and never bothered to look
1:45.8	into it. Same. So I can't really judge you there. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. So born with a name
1:54.4	that sounds like an Italian opera, Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guilmo Tibaldo Ponzi.
2:02.0	That's a lot.
2:03.4	That is.
2:04.0	But this charming con man pulled off one of the boldest financial frauds the world had ever seen.
2:09.7	His name truly lives on in infamy, and that is honestly probably his proudest legacy.
2:15.1	This isn't just a boring history lesson today, though. We are actually
2:18.6	talking ambition, lies, dollar signs everywhere, and the kind of misplaced confidence that only
	...

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