Chain Email Spammers

[toxxz]

Don't you love them? You know, the ones that send you those emails with poor grammar telling you how a terrible monster will appear by your bed with a knife while you sleep and kill you if you don't forward the email to 60 people within 10 minutes of receiving it?
And if you DO manage to forward the email to all the people, apparently something 'good', like your 'crush' will phone you and say he/she loves you.
NOW HOLD ON A SECOND! I read the "crush will phone you" part, and I'm like, "WTF?".
Because, see, I kinda don't have a crush, and I'm getting engaged next month, so unless the mystery killer means Misty from Pokemon is going to phone me if I forward this email to all those people... THIS IS A LIE. Or somehow got sent to me by the wrong person.
This should be, like, fucking made illegal man! I almost had a heart attack thinking what might happen if I went to sleep, and I wet the bed that night! And then, the next day, I realized it was all some sort of joke, or it was meant to have been sent to some lonely emo nerd instead of me.
I say we shoot the bastards that give people like me nightmares for sending these fucking annoying emails! Who's with me!?

[Gunter45]

Somehow I don't think you're quite old enough to be getting engaged.

[toxxz]

At 5/27/05 07:01 AM, Gunter45 wrote: Somehow I don't think you're quite old enough to be getting engaged.

I'm 19. I really need to put this in my profile.

[Casualty]

At 5/27/05 07:04 AM, DrJackass wrote:
I'm 19. I really need to put this in my profile.

Then do it

[toxxz]

At 5/27/05 07:05 AM, Timo_rules wrote: Then do it

Okay, done.

[Interwhat]

Send this message to at least ten people if you hate chainletters.

[toxxz]

At 5/27/05 07:09 AM, Interwhat wrote: Send this message to at least ten people if you hate chainletters.

Okay-waiiiiit a minute... something is fishy about this... but WHAT!?

[Lord-Humungus]

i prefer the old one that said something stupid like AOL and Microsoft are competing and for some reason this ment that if you forewarded the email to everyone you knew you somehow got 100 bucks per person... it was really stupid... i knew this one dumb-ass who was always sending me shit like that....

[Ted-Easton]

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.

A typical chain letter includes names and addresses of several individuals whom you may or may not know. You are instructed to send a certain amount of money--usually $5--to the person at the top of the list, and then eliminate that name and add yours to the bottom. You are then instructed to mail copies of the letter to a few more individuals who will hopefully repeat the entire process. The letter promises that if they follow the same procedure, your name will gradually move to the top of the list and you'll receive money -- lots of it.

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. (Chain letters that ask for items of minor value, like picture postcards or recipes, may be mailed, since such items are not things of value within the meaning of the law.)

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.

The main thing to remember is that a chain letter is simply a bad investment. You certainly won't get rich. You will receive little or no money. The few dollars you may get will probably not be as much as you spend making and mailing copies of the chain letter.

Chain letters don't work because the promise that all participants in a chain letter will be winners is mathematically impossible. Also, many people participate, but do not send money to the person at the top of the list. Some others create a chain letter that lists their name numerous times--in various forms with different addressee. So, in reality, all the money in a chain is going to one person.

Do not be fooled if the chain letter is used to sell inexpensive reports on credit, mail order sales, mailing lists, or other topics. The primary purpose is to take your money, not to sell information. "Selling" a product does not ensure legality. Be doubly suspicious if there's a claim that the U.S. Postal Service or U.S. Postal Inspection Service has declared the letter legal. This is said only to mislead you. Neither the Postal Service nor Postal Inspectors give prior approval to any chain letter.

Participating in a chain letter is a losing proposition. Turn over any chain letter you receive that asks for money or other items of value to your local postmaster or nearest Postal Inspector. Write on the mailing envelope of the letter or in a separate transmittal letter, "I received this in the mail and believe it may be illegal."

[Casualty]

At 5/27/05 07:07 AM, PoliticalBear wrote:

At 5/27/05 07:05 AM, Timo_rules wrote: Then do it

Okay, done.

Weeeeeeee!

[ExMember]

I find the most annoying thing about them is the fact that friends send them too you, and even when you send them an email telling them to quit it they send you even more.

[jonthomson]

At 5/27/05 06:58 AM, PoliticalBear wrote: Don't you love them?

Delete email, block sender, flame back if I feel like it. Job sorted.

Now I remember why I have "fw" killfiled from my subject line.