Ponzi king Bernard Madoff, who has been convicted of committing a fraud of $60 billion, is in danger of being beaten up by fellow inmates at a North Carolina federal prison, where he is currently imprisoned.

Reportedly, fellow inmates at the federal prison were discussing beating Madoff to boost their jailhouse reputations.

"Some of the guys were talking about smacking him around a little, just to get the notoriety of it," The New York Post quoted a source, who has a relative locked up with Madoff, as saying.

In contrast to what is being rumoured, it is believed that other convicts have no differences with the 71 year-old and in fact they were impressed by him and the way that he has handled himself since arriving at the prison.

"He got a lot of respect from other inmates because he didn't tell on anybody, he didn't take everybody down with him. Some of the inmates admired that," the source added.

Madoff, who once served as a non-executive chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange, had pleaded guilty to an 11-count criminal complaint, and had admitted to defrauding thousands of investors of billions of dollars.

Most of the inmates with Madoff, who was sentenced to 150 years in prison on June 29, are white-collar criminals who do not have a propensity for violence.