PAPER HANGER • Noun
A scammer who writes bad checks.

PASTICHE • Noun
A technique in which various details found in different works by the same artist are "pasted" together by a forger to create a new work.

PERJURY • Noun
Willfully lying, while under oath, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding.

PIG-IN-A-POKE • Noun
A rock, or other worthless object, packaged and sold as valuable merchandise.

PONZI SCHEME • Noun
An investment scam that uses money from later investors to pay returns to early investors, rather than from any actual profit earned. The scheme falls apart when there is not enough new money to pay old investors.

PRICE FIXING • Noun
An agreement between two parties to set prices for a certain product, thereby violating free market operations.

PROVENANCE • Noun
The source or origin of a work of art.

PYRAMID SCHEME • Noun
A fraudulent investment scheme structured like a pyramid. New recruits are required to "invest" a predetermined sum, which is paid to the initial recruiter who occupies the position at the top of the pyramid. The new recruit then becomes the top of their own pyramid and recruits new investors of their own to continue the cycle. Inevitably, the pyramid runs out of new recruits and falls apart.