| Re: Make money! [message #7505] |
Tue, 26 November 1996 00:00 |
seurer
Messages: 1
Registered: November 1996
|
Junior Member |
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
| Re: Make money! [message #7514 is a reply to message #7505] |
Tue, 26 November 1996 00:00  |
Mark Flacy
Messages: 1
Registered: November 1996
|
Junior Member |
|
|
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.
\ ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------
|
|
|
|
comp.lang.idl-pvwave archive
Members
Search
Help
Login
Home
