A play on words alluding to the infamous Ponzi scheme. Deceptive banner advertising that mimics an operating system's modal windows, tricking a novice or inattentive internet surfer to click on the banner ad.

The popup variant include a genuine-looking warning phrased "Your computer is currently broadcasting an IP address" in an attempt to mimic a personal firewall alert.

Bonzi Software banners are modeled after Microsoft Windows alert dialogs: Red X dialog icon and Minimize, Maximize, Close Titlebar widgets.

Bonzi is currently the defendant on a deceptive advertising class action lawsuit filed in the United States.

Update: 28/05/2003 — Bonzi has settled the class action suit; they will no longer generate fake messages.

Sources:   http://www.lukins.com/bonzi/
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