The letter below was sent to the ASA mailing list by a clueless
subscriber. Despite what the letter says, this is a chain letter
and a pyramid scheme as defined by the United States Postal Inspection
Service (http://www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect/chainlet.htm)
and therefore ILLEGAL.
Feel free to express your displeasure at USA.NET for allowing
illegal spam to pass through their site (I've gotten several with
this domain name myself in the past). Send e-mail to their public
relations people (http://www.usa.net/pr.html) and postmaster at:
lwood@wmc.com, candice@usa.net, postmaster@usa.net
Please take a moment to report it to the appropriate authorities
as well.
Pyramid schemes can be reported to the Federal Trade Commission at:
pyramid@ftc.gov
Postal fraud can be reported to the U.S. Postal Service at:
customer@email.usps.gov
Take a part in trying to curb this blatant abuse that's
unfortunately becoming more and more prevelant as immoral and
greedy people try to scam a buck on the Internet.
- Steve.
---------------------------- SPAM BELOW ------------------------------
Delivered-To: asa@lists.calvin.edu
From: responsefivehundred@usa.net
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 12:33:22 -0600 (CST)
To: responsefivehundred@usa.net
Subject: Money In Your Pocket
Reply-To: sample@whynot.net
X-PMFLAGS: 10322341.10
Comments: Authenticated Sender is <user122@whynot.net>
Sender: asa-owner@udomo2.calvin.edu
This is it folks. This is the letter you've been reading about in the news
lately. Due to the popularity of this letter on the internet, a major nightly
news program recently devoted an entire show to the investigation of the
program described below to see if it really can make people money. If you saw
it, you know that their conclusion was that
it's Legal, it makes money, and it is easy. This is one of the most popular
money making opportunities on the internet today!
Just read over the letter below. It will make starting a breeze. If you
have questions, please visit my new site http://www.ldh-uninc.com/ and send
me an e-mail. Bottom Line...it works!! Hope to hear from you soon.
L. D. Holmes, Copperas Cove, TX
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My advice to you is that you save this letter (or print it) for a time.
The idea is very simple, but it definitely takes a few times reading it over
before it sinks in. I am confident that if you read over this letter briefly
once now, and once again whenever you get the chance, you will begin to see
the potential involved.
Most people do not respond to this letter immediately. Take as much
time as you need to let the idea fly around in your head alittle.
This is not a pyramid scheme.
Many people equate this program with
illegal schemes that involve nothing but the transferring of cash. The
difference between a legitimate multi-level marketing program and a pyramid
scheme is that in a pyramid, there is no money being exchanged for a
legitimate product. The law states this clearly. Anyone who claims this
program is illegal is misinformed in the area of retail law.
In this program, the product is a financial report that you can simply
e-mail to someone after they order it from you and send cash to you through
the mail. While the report can be sent easily to yout customers with the
click of one button through e-mail, it is nonetheless a legitamate product
which people choose to send you $5.00 to purchase from you.
The other legal issue that most people ask about in programs such as
This one is the issue of tax legality. The law is clear that all income must
Be reported to the government each year. When customers send you cash, it is
your responsibility to keep track of how much you are making and report this
at the end of the year.
Following is a simple explanation of the system and simple
instructions
for you to follow to get started right away:
1) You save this letter onto your computer in case you need it later
2) You send $5.00 to each of the 4 people listed below to order a report
3) Each of those 4 people will e-mail you 1 report immediately
4) You save these 4 reports onto your computer
5) You go back to this original letter and move everyone's name down 1 level,
removing the person in the 4th position and putting your name and address in
the 1st position
6) You have this newly altered letter e-mailed to tens of thousands of people
(usually people pay a bulk e-mailer to do this for them to start)
7) When people receive this letter you sent them, they will see your name and
address as the 1st report slot and will send you a $5.00 order for it
8) When people order these reports, from you, you immediately e-mail it to
them (they will give you their e-mail address along with their $5.00)
That's it folks......its that simple......the $5 is yours!
You e-mail them the report by "copying" it out of the saved e-mail
report you received from the person on the list in this letter, and "pasting"
it into a new e-mail letter and sending
it off.... no problem. After you get the hang of it, you can copy many
letters into new e-mails very fast and send off many orders quickly.
The reason it works is that everyone involved has an incentive to help
everyone else succeed. The people you order the reports from will e-mail the
reports to you immediately because they will profit when you profit.
Each of the 4 people you order from also will be eager to answer any
questions you may have and help you in any way they can so that you can start
mailing copies of this letter out with their names on it along with yours.
I mentioned above that success in this system can be guaranteed based
on simple statistical facts. When you send out tens of thousands of
advertisements (or pay someone to mail them out for you), you can be
absolutely positively assured that a certain percentage will respond and send
you $5.00 for the report. The next fact is that the larger the mailing you
have sent out, the more responses you will get.
Please understand this about this program: It only takes an
extremely small percentage of people to respond to your ad in order for you to
make a profit. This is because your
advertisement (with your address or P.O. box on it) will be sent to such
incredibly large amounts of people. (A bulk e-mailer can send your letter out
to thousands of people per hour.)
OVERVIEW OF OUR ELECTRONIC MULTI-LEVEL
MARKETING PROGRAM:
Basically, this is what we do: We sell thousands of people a product for
$5.00 that costs us next to nothing to produce and e-mail. As with all multi-
level businesses, we build our
business by recruiting new partners and selling our products. Every state in
the U.S. allows you to recruit new multi- level business online (with your
computer).
Look at multi-million companies such as New Vision (a vitamin
supplier). We use the exact same method of multi-level selling they use. The
only difference is that our product is a financial report you can easily e-
mail to someone, rather than costly vitamins.
The product in this program is a series of four businesses and financial
reports. Each $5.00 order you receive by regular mail will include the e-
mail address of the sender. To fill each order, you simply e-mail the product
to the buyer. THAT'S IT!...the $5.00 is yours! It really is THAT simple!
Think about it...........
FOLLOW THE
INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY
The profits are worth it.
So go for it. Remember the 4 points and we'll see you at the top.
******* I N S T R U C T I O N S *******
This is what you must do:
1................ Save this letter onto your computer
2................ Order all 4 reports listed and numbered from the list below.
(For each report send $5.00 and your e-mail address on a piece
of paper to each person listed. When you order, make sure you print your e-
mail address clearly, and also be sure to request each SPECIFIC report. You
will need all four reports, because you will be saving them onto your computer
and reselling them.)
(You will receive the reports a few days later by e-mail. Save them
onto your computer)
3................ Now you have 4 financial reports saved on your computer.
These are legitimate products that people will want to buy. You are ready to
start advertising your product to tens of thousands of potential customers.
4................ Take this letter and move everyone's name and address down
1 position. The person in the 4th position gets erased. Put your own name
(make up a company name) and address (could be a home or PO box) in position
1.
At this point you have 2 options. If you decide you want to
advertise yourself, you need to obtain mailing lists and send this newly
altered letter to as many people as you can to get people to order the report
from you for $5. This method can be time consuming and costly.
The second option is to pay a bulk e-mailer to mail out your letter
for you. They can send out your letter to tens of thousands of people for a
fraction of the cost of the above method. This is the method we recommend and
is by far the simplest and cheapest way to go.
When you use a bulk e-mailer, all you need to do is give them a copy
of the original letter with the address you want your $5 orders to go to and
they will do the rest. If you are able to find a bulk e-mailer who is
already involved with the program, they won't even need the original letter
since they will already have it.
There are many bulk e-mailers out there who will send out your letter
for you. You can find them by doing a search of the word "bulk e-mailer" on
the internet. There are many excellent companies out there who will mail for
you, but you still must be alittle wary. We have found that some companies
don't send them out in a productive manner (w/out using fresh addresses or
attaching other messages to yours) and since there is no sure way to know
exactly their methods, you're left wondering.
The best of all scenarios is to have someone who is also involved in this
program mail out your letters for you. There are many private bulk e-mailers
out there who send out this very letter with their names on the list because
they know the potential involved. There is a good chance that one of the
people you will be ordering your report from will be able to bulk e-mail out
your letter for you.
When you order the report from the people on the list in this letter,
they will e-mail you a report---if they bulk e-mail, they will probably
include an offer to send your letters out for you.
There is a simple reason why it is best to have someone involved in the
program bulk e-mail out your letters for you. As mentioned before, it is
difficult to verify that a company is sending out your letter in the most
profitable way. If the person sending out the letter is also involved in the
program, they will understand the program and, best of all, they will do
everything possible to see you get as many responses as possible because when
you profit they will profit as well since they are on the list as well. This
gives the person an incentive to take great care in sending out your mail
since they have alot to gain from it as well as you. Other bulk e-mailing
companies will not have this same incentive.
ALWAYS PROVIDE SAME-
DAY SERVICE ON ALL ORDERS!!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------
REQUIRED REPORTS
***Order each REPORT by NUMBER and NAME***
Following is the list of people you will send $5 to:
(Remember to include your e-mail address on the paper concealing the
5 dollars)
When they e-mail the report to you, save them onto your computer.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
REPORT #1
"HOW TO MAKE $250,000 THROUGH MULTI-LEVEL SALES"
ORDER REPORT #1 FROM:
TKST
P.O. BOX 129
LYNN HAVEN FL 32444
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------
REPORT #2
"MAJOR CORPORATIONS AND MULTI-LEVEL SALES"
ORDER REPORT #2 FROM:
L.D.H. UNINC
P.O. Box 545
Copperas Cove, TX 76522-0545
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
REPORT #3
"SOURCES FOR THE BEST MAILING LISTS"
ORDER REPORT #3 FROM:
JKW Enterprises
PO Box 8943
Lacey, Wa 98509
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------
REPORT #4
"EVALUATING MULTI-LEVEL SALES PLANS"
ORDER REPORT #4 From:
KBLS Enterprises
5312 SE 30th Ave
Ocala, FL 34480-7524
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------
Here's the fun part:
Take a look at what is called the "multiplier effect" in marketing:
Let's say you decide to start small just to see how it goes. Assume
you advertise your letter until 10 people respond and send you $5.00. Also
assume that those 10 people also advertise until they get 10 people to order
and send them $5.00.
Assume this continues for everyone in your downline and observe the following
results:
* 10 people order report #1 from you and send you $5.00
5 * 10 = $50
* each of those 10 people advertise until 10 people order report #1 from them
(since their mailing will have your name as #2, 100 people will also send you
$5 each to order report #2)
5 * 100= $500
* each of those 500 people advertise until 10 people order report #1 from
them (1000 people order report #3 from you and send you $5)
5 * 1000= $5,000
* each of those 1000 people advertise until 10 people order report #1 from
them
(10,000 people order report #4 from you and send you $5)
5 * 10,000= $50,000
$50,000 + $5,000 + $500 + $50
Total = $55,550
A bulk e-mailer can send your letter out to thousands of people in one
night. The above scenario holds true if only 10 people out of those thousands
respond. This program is a study in statistics. A certain percentage WILL
respond and send you $5.
There is no guarante that you will make $50,000 each time, but its nice
just to have some help with the rent or to have a few bills taken care of each
month. This program is fun to be a part of. We hope to hear from you soon!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Steven H. Schimmrich Physical Sciences Department schimmri@kutztown.edu (office) Kutztown University schimmrich@earthlink.net (home) 217 Grim Science Building 610-683-4437, 610-683-1352 (fax) Kutztown, Pennsylvania 19530 http://www.kutztown.edu/~schimmri/