gifting club
gifting club. A type of pyramid scheme or Ponzi scheme in which recruits make “gifts” of money to other club members with the expectation that future recruits will make “gifts” to the present recruits. • Many gifting clubs limit membership to women. Club leaders usu. try to evade income-tax laws by claiming that the money paid in by a recruit is a tax-free “gift” to a club member and warning new recruits not to expect “gifts” in the future. Some states forbid gifting clubs as illegal pyramid schemes. Other states hold that the clubs are illegal lotteries. — Also termed gifting circle; sisterhood; birthday club. See PONZI SCHEME.
