[dsr_]

Well, yes, that's one of its major functions. Every con artist in the history of the world has depended on people making voluntary transactions.

Charles Ponzi didn't coerce anyone.

419 scammers depend on your voluntary stupidity.

Telemarketers don't hold a gun to your head.

[mindcrime]

The thing is, it's one thing to have a legal system that can provide for redress and restitution in the case of actual fraud. It's quite another thing to have a legal system that prevents voluntary transactions simply because some of them might be fraud.

[amarkov]

The legal system can't reliably provide for redress and restitution in the case of actual fraud, because the legal system can't pull money from thin air. In something like a classical Ponzi scheme, the fraudster simply does not have enough assets to give everyone back what they're owed.