A financial pyramid scheme.

The great American writer O. Henry described this very well.
Eddie Tucker and Pete Peters, I think, are the names of these guys; I read the book a long time ago. I don't have time to read at all these days. I know many of my friends don't either. Americans don't read much in general.
So I'll quickly explain everything here in my own words.
At the beginning of the last century, a man named Eddie entered a saloon in the wildest part of the American West. He was the first player.
He stopped the music and gave a speech.
"To whoever lends me 10 dollars today, I will return 20 dollars right here tomorrow, in front of everyone."
Everyone present laughed. They thought he was a fool. "We don't know you, we might not even be able to find you tomorrow."
Then the second player in this fraudulent scheme enters the game. Eddies partner, a card sharp with whom they played together.
Let's call this second man Pete.
The second player, Pete gives the first man ten bucks (like, "I'll take the risk, whatever happens").
The next day, the first man, in front of everyone, gave the second player 20 bucks.
Pete orders whiskey and relaxes, satisfied. "Great. No need to work, money flows into my pocket like a stream."
Eddie (the first player) comes back a couple of days later to the same establishment. They are already waiting for him.
"Whoever gives me 25 dollars today will get 50 dollars back tomorrow, pure profit."
They do the same thing again. Pete (the second player) immediately rushes to put down his 25 dollars and the next day receives 50. He significantly shakes the banknotes in front of the assembled crowd and treats everyone. The money wasn't earned through hard work – it fell from the sky. None of the local cowboys understood anything about free cheese in a mousetrap.
Then Eddie comes again and offers that whoever gives him 50 dollars today will get 100 dollars back tomorrow.
Pete (the second player) again puts down his 50 dollars. A couple more locals join in. Whiskey and gambling go hand in hand.
The next day, each of the so-called shareholders received their hundred dollars.
When Eddie came back the next time, there was already a line of people wanting to invest their hard-earned money in this pyramid scheme. The whole town was there, waiting for Eddie.
Eddie said that whoever gave him 500 dollars today would get 1000 dollars back tomorrow.
The ending of this story is well known.
Neither Eddie nor Pete were ever seen in that town again. The local cowboys were, of course, very angry. They put out a wanted notice. They wanted to catch these two and lynch them on the spot..