1) Chain letters are "illegal if they request money or other items of value
and promise a substantial return to the participants" according to the
United States Postal Service.
<www.usps.com/postalinspectors/chainlet.htm>
See 18 USC 1302:
<http://liimirror.warwick.ac.uk/uscode/18/1302.html>
2) "Chain letters that involve money or valuable items and promise big
returns are illegal" according to the Federal Trade Commission.
<www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/chainalrt.htm>
> Remember, all of this is ABSOLUTELY LEGAL! You are
> creating a service! A Business. An Email List Service
> Business
Federal Trade Commission: "You can dress yourself up as a legitimate
business and call yourself something you're not, but a pyramid is still a
pyramid, and pyramids are illegal"
http://www.mlmlegal.com/news/121399.html
> If you have any doubts, please refer to Title 18
> Sec. 1302 & 1241 of the United States Postal laws.
There is no section 1241.
TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 61 > § 1302
§ 1302. Mailing lottery tickets or related matter
Whoever knowingly deposits in the mail, or sends or delivers by mail:
Any letter, package, postal card, or circular concerning any lottery, gift
enterprise, or similar scheme offering prizes dependent in whole or in part
upon lot or chance;
Any lottery ticket or part thereof, or paper, certificate, or instrument
purporting to be or to represent a ticket, chance, share, or interest in or
dependent upon the event of a lottery, gift enterprise, or similar scheme
offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance;
Any check, draft, bill, money, postal note, or money order, for the purchase
of any ticket or part thereof, or of any share or chance in any such
lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme;
Any newspaper, circular, pamphlet, or publication of any kind containing any
advertisement of any lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme of any kind
offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance, or
containing any list of the prizes drawn or awarded by means of any such
lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme, whether said list contains any part or
all of such prizes;
Any article described in section 1953 of this title—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or
both; and for any subsequent offense shall be imprisoned not more than five
years.
TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 63 > § 1341
§ 1341. Frauds and swindles
Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to
defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent
pretenses, representations, or promises, or to sell, dispose of, loan,
exchange, alter, give away, distribute, supply, or furnish or procure for
unlawful use any counterfeit or spurious coin, obligation, security, or
other article, or anything represented to be or intimated or held out to be
such counterfeit or spurious article, for the purpose of executing such
scheme or artifice or attempting so to do, places in any post office or
authorized depository for mail matter, any matter or thing whatever to be
sent or delivered by the Postal Service, or deposits or causes to be
deposited any matter or thing whatever to be sent or delivered by any
private or commercial interstate carrier, or takes or receives therefrom,
any such matter or thing, or knowingly causes to be delivered by mail or
such carrier according to the direction thereon, or at the place at which it
is directed to be delivered by the person to whom it is addressed, any such
matter or thing, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such
person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than
30 years, or both.
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