Messages from Usenet group comp.lang.idl-pvwave, compiled by Paulo Penteado
While you might make some money off some poor suckers by doing this be advised that this is a scam called a "pyramid" or "Ponzi" scheme. It is illegal both in the USA and nearly every other country. Check out http://www.nwrain.com/ponzi.htm for some information from the FBI about Ponzi schemes. Note also that if you follow the instructions to re-post this scam you will likely (in no particular order) lose your internet account, be reported to the postal insepctors, be reported to the IRS, and be buried under piles of email protests. Check out the US Postal Inspection Service's web site http://www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect/chainlet.htm which starts: -=-=- United States Postal Inspection Service Chain Letters A chain letter is a "get rich quick" scheme that promises that your mail box will soon be stuffed full of cash if you decide to participate. You're told you can make thousands of dollars every month if you follow the detailed instructions in the letter. . . . There's at least one problem with chain letters. They're illegal if they request money or other items of value and promise a substantial return to the participants. Chain letters are a form of gambling, and sending them through the mail (or delivering them in person or by computer, but mailing money to participate) violates Title 18, United States Code, Section 1302, the Postal Lottery Statute. . . . Recently, high-tech chain letters have begun surfacing. They may be disseminated over the Internet, or may require the copying and mailing of computer disks rather than paper. Regardless of what technology is used to advance the scheme, if the mail is used at any step along the way, it is still illegal. . . . -- - Bill Seurer ID Tools and Compiler Development IBM Rochester, MN Business: BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com Home: BillSeurer@aol.com http://members.aol.com/BillSeurer
Cretin. Read the following. Posts like the one I am replying to are really a chain letter. When you write a chain letter and send it through US mail, you break United States law, and could be fined $1,000 and go to jail for 2 years for the first offense, 5 years for the second! Not only are chain letters illegal in the U.S. (2 year jail term for first offence, see below), they CAN NOT WORK. Somebody will be at the bottom of the pyramid and will thus be screwed. Here's PROOF: --- The chain letters claim that you will make at least $10,000 (often they claim $20,000 or $50,000), by people sending you $1 bills. If the person who originally wrote the chain letter made $10,000 off of it, then there are at least 10,000 people who have joined so far. That's obvious; if someone made $10,000 from people sending him $1, then 10,000 people have joined so far. In order for each of those 10,000 people to make $10,000, there would need to be 100,000,000 people joining (10,000 people already in the program, each causing another 10,000 to join; 10,000 times 10,000 is 100,000,000). That, too, is quite obvious. So, if you saw this chain letter and joined it as the THIRD person in the chain, according to the way the chain letter claims it works, there would be 100,000,000 other people joining. For all of you to make your $10,000, you would each need to cause another 10,000 people to sign up. How many are we at now? It's simple: 100,000,000 people times 10,000 new people each. That's 1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) people joining. That's about 200 times as many people as there are on this planet. Now do you understand why chain letters won't work? --- Chain letters are illegal if the chain letter or money is transferred via U.S. Mail, and can get you a $1,000 fine and a 2 YEAR jail sentence for your first offense. The second offence can get you in jail for 5 years. Even if transmitted via the Internet, they violate Title 18 USC Section 1302, the Postal Lottery Statute. For verification, you can currently go to http://www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect/ chainlet.htm to see that it is illegal, and go to http://www.usps.gov/ websites/depart/inspect/usc18/lottery.htm for the text of the law). -- \ ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------- \ Mark A. Flacy | flacy@nortel.com | ESN 445-8347 \ "There's one in every crowd | (214) 685-8347 | Department H231 \ and it's usually me." | | \ ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------- \ Someday I may speak for Northern Telecom (Nortel). \ Someday pigs may howl at a full moon. \ Expect the latter to occur first. \ ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------