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Pyramid Sceams -Fiighting back
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NYC
Apr 24, 2000, 3:00:00 AM4/24/00
to LIST Deja Queensbridge
Copyright Normandeau Newswire April 24, 2000. Permission granted to
reproduce freely in its entirety only.
On July 14, 1998 the FTC said:
"Copies of the FTC's Consumer Alert, "FTC Names Its Dirty Dozen: 12
Scams Most Likely to Arrive Via Bulk E-mail" and the FTC's Facts for
Consumer's brochure about unsolicited commercial e-mail, "Trouble @ the
In-Box," as well as a variety of other consumer education publications
-- including publications on advance fee loans, credit repair, virtual
health "treatments," pyramid schemes and investment scams -- are
available on the FTC's web site at http://www.ftc.gov".
Send this article to offending chain letter sender and to internet
postmaster at the originating site (postmaster@site). Visit
news.admin.net-abuse.misc,
alt.current-events.net-abuse,
alt.spam,
and
alt.stop.spamming
for more info on combating spamers and tracking down site of
origination.
Some chain letters just say to send money, some claim to be selling
reports, a book or gathering names for mailing lists to be sold later.
The money sending is via the US mail and some inter-state addresses are
always included. The original electronic postings are sent over
inter-state wires.
The scheme is sometimes set up with the first 5 to 10 names all
referring to the same person using aliases or relatives/friends to
collect all money sent to the first 5 or more people, depending on the
wording of the letter.
THERE IS ONLY ONE RISK-FREE WAY TO MAKE MONEY FROM SPAMED CHAIN LETTERS.
That is; to turn-in all the names mentioned to the IRS for unreported
income. Contact your local Internal Revenue Service office for more
details regarding rewards. If they say "I made $50,000 in one month" -or
whatever; the IRS is sure to want to know. Happy bounty hunting!
The U.S. Postal Service has said re "CHAIN LETTERS":
"Recently, high-tech chain letters have begun surfacing. They may be
disseminated over the Internet ... 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 ... Do not be fooled if the chain letter is
used to sell inexpensive reports ... mailing lists, or other topics.
The primary purpose is to take your money, not to sell information.
"Selling" a product does not ensure legality. ... TURN OVER ANY CHAIN
LETTER YOU RECEIVE THAT ASKS FOR MONEY OR OTHER ITEMS OF VALUE TO
YOUR LOCAL POSTMASTER OR NEAREST POSTAL INSPECTOR." Normandeau
Newswire Emphasis.
Some chain letter messages refer people to 18 USC 1341/1342 concerning
mail fraud and lotteries. The chain letter claims to be a legal
operation. 18 USC 1341 and 1342 show that the scheme is just a chain
letter operation with a twist. The original message is sent over
telecommunication lines. A quick check of 18 USC 1343 shows that this is
WIRE FRAUD. Each of the above laws carries a penalty of $1,000 and/or 5
years in jail. Each mailing, or upload is a violation. If in doubt
forward a copy of the letter or spam by mail to YOUR Postal Inspector
(Mail Fraud) and FBI (Internet Wire Fraud) for an opinion. The Post
Office asks you to SEND THEM FRAUDULENT MATERIAL.
Once upon a time ... solicitations were Snailed out with:
"Dear Friend,
My name is Dave Rhodes. In September 1988 my car was repossessed
and the bill collectors were hounding me like you wouldn't believe.
I was laid off and my unemployment checks had run out..."
More current electronic intrusions include:
"A little while back, I was browsing these newsgroups, just like
you are now, and came across an article similar to this that said
you could make thousands of dollars within weeks with only an
initial investment of $6.00!"
If you come across such a chain letter inappropriately posted in a
Usenet newsgroup send a complaint to the "postmaster" at the originating
electronic posting site. If the posting asks that you send money thru
the mail, print out copies of the entire solicitation and send one copy
to "POSTAL INSPECTOR" for EACH Post Office mentioned in the
solicitation. With a marking pen high-light the appropriate City and
State in the print-out. Instead of affixing postage write "Official
Business".
If you really want to wipe out this type of scam, with your computer
printer make yourself a year's supply of labels to stick where the
postage stamp would normally go. Now you only have to write the City and
State names on the lower part of the envelopes. Where stamps normally go
the label will say:
"Official Business
POSTAL INSPECTOR
At City Indicated Below"
The solicitations sometimes say:
"Follow these instructions EXACTLY, and in 20 to 60 days you will
have received well over $50,000.00 cash, all yours. This program has
remained successful because of the honesty and integrity of the
participants. ... Welcome to the world of Mail Order! This little
business is a little different than most".
Someone entering the mail order business for the first time may
"inadvertently" overlook the payment of Federal and local income taxes,
especially when they have to open up a thousand or more envelopes a day
and count piles of one dollar bills. 1000/8 = 125 envelopes per hour for
fifty days for $50,000.00. Send a copy of the solicitation to all city,
state and federal tax authorities for the jurisdictions mentioned in the
addresses already listed on the solicitation. With a marking-pen
high-light the appropriate City and State in the print-out. This can
speed up local authorities' actions. As far as a return address, we
don't know the legality of putting the name and address of one of the
people listed in the chain, so we won't suggest such a thing. Better
yet, get PAID to turn in tax evaders. Contact the tax authorities for
details.
You may also wish to send a complaint and copy of the spamed
advertisements to:
Office of the Director
Bureau of Consumer Protection
Federal Trade Commission
Washington, D.C. 20580.
Ask that the Commission amend Chapter I, Subchapter C of 16 CFR by
adding a new part to read as follows:
"That it be deemed an abusive telemarketing act or practice to
knowingly distribute, cause or allow to be distributed,
advertisements on the internet in inappropriate Usenet newsgroups or
via E-mail and that the remedy be to petition the court for a fine of
treble damages.
Damages to be assessed on the basis of estimated costs to all
receivers, of their costs to read such spamed advertisements when
read on commercial services which charge a per message or per metered
time basis, this to include ISP or cell phone connection charges.
Assessed damages for readers incurring no monetary costs to be the
same as calculated above"
=======================================================================
Above originated with the Normandeau Newswire which provides news
information at
http://www.deja.com/~nyctalent
and
http://www.deja.com/~queensbridge
reproduce freely in its entirety only.
On July 14, 1998 the FTC said:
"Copies of the FTC's Consumer Alert, "FTC Names Its Dirty Dozen: 12
Scams Most Likely to Arrive Via Bulk E-mail" and the FTC's Facts for
Consumer's brochure about unsolicited commercial e-mail, "Trouble @ the
In-Box," as well as a variety of other consumer education publications
-- including publications on advance fee loans, credit repair, virtual
health "treatments," pyramid schemes and investment scams -- are
available on the FTC's web site at http://www.ftc.gov".
Send this article to offending chain letter sender and to internet
postmaster at the originating site (postmaster@site). Visit
news.admin.net-abuse.misc,
alt.current-events.net-abuse,
alt.spam,
and
alt.stop.spamming
for more info on combating spamers and tracking down site of
origination.
Some chain letters just say to send money, some claim to be selling
reports, a book or gathering names for mailing lists to be sold later.
The money sending is via the US mail and some inter-state addresses are
always included. The original electronic postings are sent over
inter-state wires.
The scheme is sometimes set up with the first 5 to 10 names all
referring to the same person using aliases or relatives/friends to
collect all money sent to the first 5 or more people, depending on the
wording of the letter.
THERE IS ONLY ONE RISK-FREE WAY TO MAKE MONEY FROM SPAMED CHAIN LETTERS.
That is; to turn-in all the names mentioned to the IRS for unreported
income. Contact your local Internal Revenue Service office for more
details regarding rewards. If they say "I made $50,000 in one month" -or
whatever; the IRS is sure to want to know. Happy bounty hunting!
The U.S. Postal Service has said re "CHAIN LETTERS":
"Recently, high-tech chain letters have begun surfacing. They may be
disseminated over the Internet ... 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 ... Do not be fooled if the chain letter is
used to sell inexpensive reports ... mailing lists, or other topics.
The primary purpose is to take your money, not to sell information.
"Selling" a product does not ensure legality. ... TURN OVER ANY CHAIN
LETTER YOU RECEIVE THAT ASKS FOR MONEY OR OTHER ITEMS OF VALUE TO
YOUR LOCAL POSTMASTER OR NEAREST POSTAL INSPECTOR." Normandeau
Newswire Emphasis.
Some chain letter messages refer people to 18 USC 1341/1342 concerning
mail fraud and lotteries. The chain letter claims to be a legal
operation. 18 USC 1341 and 1342 show that the scheme is just a chain
letter operation with a twist. The original message is sent over
telecommunication lines. A quick check of 18 USC 1343 shows that this is
WIRE FRAUD. Each of the above laws carries a penalty of $1,000 and/or 5
years in jail. Each mailing, or upload is a violation. If in doubt
forward a copy of the letter or spam by mail to YOUR Postal Inspector
(Mail Fraud) and FBI (Internet Wire Fraud) for an opinion. The Post
Office asks you to SEND THEM FRAUDULENT MATERIAL.
Once upon a time ... solicitations were Snailed out with:
"Dear Friend,
My name is Dave Rhodes. In September 1988 my car was repossessed
and the bill collectors were hounding me like you wouldn't believe.
I was laid off and my unemployment checks had run out..."
More current electronic intrusions include:
"A little while back, I was browsing these newsgroups, just like
you are now, and came across an article similar to this that said
you could make thousands of dollars within weeks with only an
initial investment of $6.00!"
If you come across such a chain letter inappropriately posted in a
Usenet newsgroup send a complaint to the "postmaster" at the originating
electronic posting site. If the posting asks that you send money thru
the mail, print out copies of the entire solicitation and send one copy
to "POSTAL INSPECTOR" for EACH Post Office mentioned in the
solicitation. With a marking pen high-light the appropriate City and
State in the print-out. Instead of affixing postage write "Official
Business".
If you really want to wipe out this type of scam, with your computer
printer make yourself a year's supply of labels to stick where the
postage stamp would normally go. Now you only have to write the City and
State names on the lower part of the envelopes. Where stamps normally go
the label will say:
"Official Business
POSTAL INSPECTOR
At City Indicated Below"
The solicitations sometimes say:
"Follow these instructions EXACTLY, and in 20 to 60 days you will
have received well over $50,000.00 cash, all yours. This program has
remained successful because of the honesty and integrity of the
participants. ... Welcome to the world of Mail Order! This little
business is a little different than most".
Someone entering the mail order business for the first time may
"inadvertently" overlook the payment of Federal and local income taxes,
especially when they have to open up a thousand or more envelopes a day
and count piles of one dollar bills. 1000/8 = 125 envelopes per hour for
fifty days for $50,000.00. Send a copy of the solicitation to all city,
state and federal tax authorities for the jurisdictions mentioned in the
addresses already listed on the solicitation. With a marking-pen
high-light the appropriate City and State in the print-out. This can
speed up local authorities' actions. As far as a return address, we
don't know the legality of putting the name and address of one of the
people listed in the chain, so we won't suggest such a thing. Better
yet, get PAID to turn in tax evaders. Contact the tax authorities for
details.
You may also wish to send a complaint and copy of the spamed
advertisements to:
Office of the Director
Bureau of Consumer Protection
Federal Trade Commission
Washington, D.C. 20580.
Ask that the Commission amend Chapter I, Subchapter C of 16 CFR by
adding a new part to read as follows:
"That it be deemed an abusive telemarketing act or practice to
knowingly distribute, cause or allow to be distributed,
advertisements on the internet in inappropriate Usenet newsgroups or
via E-mail and that the remedy be to petition the court for a fine of
treble damages.
Damages to be assessed on the basis of estimated costs to all
receivers, of their costs to read such spamed advertisements when
read on commercial services which charge a per message or per metered
time basis, this to include ISP or cell phone connection charges.
Assessed damages for readers incurring no monetary costs to be the
same as calculated above"
=======================================================================
Above originated with the Normandeau Newswire which provides news
information at
http://www.deja.com/~nyctalent
and
http://www.deja.com/~queensbridge
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
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