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BREAK THE CHAIN - an expose on endless chain schem
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BREAK THE CHAIN
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A guide to "get rick quick" endless chain scams
June 11, 1995
Copyright 1995 Whirlwind Software
This text is copyrighted but freely distributable.
You may distribute this article on electronic bulletin boards,
commercial online services, CD-ROMS, and on the Internet.
Contents
What Are They?
Are They Legal?
How Do They Pick Their Targets?
How Do They Hook Their Targets?
What Are The Mathematical Realities?
The Classic Chain Letter
The Classic Pyramid Scheme
The "4 Reports" Scheme
The Envelope Stuffing Scam
What To Do About Them
Closing Notes
For Further Information
Questionnaire Responses
Contact Information
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What Are They?
Have you ever gotten a letter in the mail, or read an ad in a magazine,
claiming that by following a "simple plan" you can make a huge pile of
money with next to no effort at all? Did the "plan" require you to send
money to more than one person, or to reproduce the plan itself and sell
it to others?
If so, you've most likely been offered an ENDLESS CHAIN SCHEME.
Endless chain schemes take many forms, and we'll cover four of the most
common ones here. Basically they work on the principle that each person
involved in the scam sells to, or recruits, several more (different)
people to do the same thing, and so on down the line. A simple
examination of the mathematics involved makes it obvious to anyone why
these schemes aren't sustainable, and why they're treated as fraud.
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Are they legal?
Most of them are quite illegal, but some are in a gray area, depending
on the jurisdiction in which you live.
In Texas, for example, endless chain schemes are identified as such in
the criminal law, and the law can come down hard on perpetrators.
There's no room for interpretation there - all of them are illegal in
Texas!
Some individuals on the Information Superhighway have informed the
author that in the United Kingdom, ANY form of multi-level plan at all
is illegal! Even legitimate multi-level marketing methods like Amway,
NSA or Shaklee, which are legal in North America - are forbidden in the
U.K.!
In Canada, the criminal code specifically describes the classic pyramid
scheme but has no language generally dealing with schemes or operations
that could go on forever. This doesn't mean that endless chains are
legal in Canada, because the pyramid law could possibly be interpreted
to include other types of schemes- thus it's a gray area.
Perhaps the most well-known form of the classic chain letter is the one
that's been floating around the Information Superhighway - the Internet.
This one identifies a Dave Rhodes as the originator of the plan. An
internet user with the FBI recently posted to the Internet that Dave
Rhodes himself is serving time in a federal correctional institute for
his part in the origination of his chain letter and won't be eligible
for release until 1997!
One of the most insidious things about endless chains is that many of
them claim to be legal - some even quoting irrelevant laws to back the
claim up. Others disguise themselves as legitimate multi-level
marketing plans, offering the "service" of placing your name on a
mailing list, or four "reports" on (guess what) multi-level marketing as
the so-called product. These products are shams, of no interest to
anyone outside the scheme.
If a scheme quotes chapter and verse of a law you aren't familiar with,
don't you believe it! Certainly Dave Rhodes no longer does!
Generally speaking, in North America, if a "multi level" plan promises
huge rewards with little work, or is chiefly concerned with its own
growth and not concerned with the sale of a real product, then it's a
good bet the plan is illegal where you live.
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How do they pick their targets?
Most of the mailed schemes include names and addresses of one or more
mailing-list companies who will supply names and addresses for a fee.
Some of these companies claim that they never sell the same name twice,
but in fact they never sell you the same name twice. Who's to say how
many different chain letter scammers out there are using the same
mailing list?
It's generally believed by chain-letter debunkers on the Internet that
some chain letters are originated by unscrupulous name list companies
solely to stir up business.
Of course, certain mailing lists from legitimate companies make it into
the hands of chain letter con-men. If, for example, you subscribe to a
monthly magazine dealing with gambling or bingo, your name might be
considered a good prospect for a chain letter list. Entering a contest
or sweepstakes, or getting a lottery subscription from a non-local or
otherwise unknown company might land your name on one of these lists.
These are sometimes called "opportunity seeker" lists. The author
personally received four chain letter offers within a three week period,
several months after entering a major national magazine publisher's
sweepstakes. The chain of events is pretty obvious here: several months
after entering, the drawing took place. A mailing list was built from
the information provided by the entrants and this list was sold to
whoever wanted an "opportunity seeker" list. Within a few weeks, yours
truly was peppered with chain letters. Coincidence?
Some particularly sleazy types target those who are vulnerable to a
promise of easy money - high school and junior college students, the
elderly, the unemployed, etc. This kind of unethical targeting is
probably an important reason why endless chains are illegal!
It's important to note that chain letters are sustained by only a few
con men - those who originate them and those who knowingly feed them
with mailing lists. Without these few crooks, chain letters probably
wouldn't be self-sustaining and would die out after a few generations.
If you've received a chain letter, the person who sent it to you is
almost certainly one of the "marks", not an insider in the scheme.
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How do they hook their targets?
The language used in most chain letters is geared toward the
"opportunity seeker" - meaning, in this case, someone who has proven
that they're susceptible to cleverly worded promises by entering a
contest which uses them. The letter is laced throughout with phrases
and quotes that would be powerfully seductive to the right person:
"The Next Five Minutes Will Change Your Life"
"Financial Independence In Three Months"
"Believe It And It's Yours"
"He Who Dares Nothing Need Not Hope For Anything"
In addition, there are usually testimonials gushing with praise for the
"amazing" profits and results claimed to have been achieved by others
who've already made their fortune on the scheme. These "testimonials"
are no doubt fabricated by the originators of the scheme, as examining
several different copies of the scheme makes clear - unless "Paul
Johnson" moved from Raleigh, North Carolina to Mississauga, Ontario and
resubmitted the same testimonial when he got there! Or perhaps "Mary
Rockland" set the scheme in motion from both Toronto and East Lansing!
Does something smell fishy yet?
The language of these letters should tip you off - they are obviously
written by professionals, even if the print quality is anything but
professional.
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What are the mathematical realities?
Endless chain scams tend, in theory, to explode geometrically. This, of
course, is why the post office hates them so much.
Let's take a look at a highly theoretical example:
Say you receive a chain letter in which you are to send $2 to each of
five people on a list, and put yourself at the top of the list, bumping
off the name at the bottom. You distribute your chain far and wide and
twenty people reply. Each of them sends you $2 and you get $40 for your
efforts - even though you've likely spent more on promoting the scheme.
Now, each of those 20 people also promotes the scheme wideband and
manages to hook another 20 each to the scheme. You then get $800. And
on the third generation you get $16,000, and on the fourth, $320,000.
These are the kinds of dollar amounts the schemes' come-ons would have
you believe are realistic. But at $2 a pop, 160,000 people have had to
send you $2 each - to say nothing of the millions that theoretically
should have gone to the person who came before you on the chain! If you
live in a town with less than 160,000 people you'll quickly come to know
the meaning of the word "saturation" at that point! A few generations
later and the population of the United States is in on it, and one more
would cover the whole world!
Saturation, of course, is what happens when a large percentage of people
who would be interested in participating in the scheme are doing so.
Once an area becomes saturated it's extremely difficult, if not
impossible, to recruit new people.
What happens then? Well, in reality most people throw away chain
letters, so saturation starts to set in very early. Thus, the growth of
the chain is much slower than promised - in fact, were it not for
mailing list companies that keep records of who's been sold which list,
knowing that they're feeding a chain letter, saturation would occur so
quickly that the chain would actually die out within a couple of
generations.
The more levels the scheme expands to, the fewer prospects there are
left. Within just a few generations (this could be as little as a month
or two), individials new to the scheme quickly find that no-one is
responding to their letters or ads, and they, in their hundreds of
thousands, are the ultimate victims of the scheme, swindled out of $10
each.
Who gets the most money? The sharks who started the scheme in the first
place! The mailing list companies listed in the scheme can also make a
bundle from these letters, even when saturation is nearly total. Do you
think there's a money back guarantee on mailing lists?
But it's not over with that. By the time saturation is reached (in
theory), thousands of people have sent probably millions of letters,
sending the postal system into overload! Don't allow a chain letter to
delude you into thinking that you're helping the post office in any way
- first class letter mail has long been a loser for public postal
services who make up the shortfall with more lucrative courier services
and third class ad-mail delivery.
Can you imagine how many trees it would take to produce several million
three- or four-page chain letters? They'd be an environmental disaster!
Of course, not one of the come-ons for these schemes ever makes any
mention of the saturation problem, and that is why they are all
fraudulent! If chain letters did explode according to theory, a lot of
people would make a lot of money fast just as the chains claim. But
with saturation, you see the pathetic returns reported by those who
responded to our questionnaire!
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The Classic Chain Letter
This is the most widely known form of endless chain. Basically, you're
sent a letter with a powerful "Make Money Fast - Change Your Life"
approach, several paragraphs of testimonials, a set of instructions, and
a list of anywhere from 5 to 10 names and addresses. The instructions
tell you to send anywhere from $1 to $10 to each person on the list, and
then to put your name at the top of the list and "bump" the now-rich
person at the bottom of the list off. You then send out as many copies
of the same chain letter as you can afford. As described previously,
each generation your letter takes multiplies the number of copies of the
letter in circulation with your name on it, and in theory your income
multiplies with it.
Some versions of this letter attempt to feign legality by adding a
twist: in return for the money you send, you are added by request to a
mailing list. This, the letter claims, is supposedly a legitimate
service making the chain legal. However, the law doesn't see it that
way. Dave Rhodes can certainly tell you that!
Other versions of the letter don't involve money, but are propagated for
their own sake. This is perhaps the oldest form of chain letter. Such
letters promise good luck for those who send out several dozen copies
and personal or financial disaster for those who don't. Unfortunately,
since no money is involved, this type isn't covered by fraud laws and is
considered no more than a nuisance by the U.S. Postal Service. The best
thing you can do with one of these is remove the staples and throw it in
the recycling bin where it belongs!
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The Classic Pyramid Scheme
This is similar to the chain letter except that it is usually spread by
word of mouth or by handout flyers. How it works is that you buy a
"slot" in an imaginary "pyramid" for a fixed amount of money (often $100
or more). For this you get the right to sell additional "slots" for the
same amount, resulting in a profit.
Since this scheme is verbally transmitted, it usually only affects a
local area, often a college campus or a large workplace such as a
factory or office building. Saturation can be reached quickly, but the
pyramid usually collapses even sooner when the victims come to realize
they've been taken for a ride and get the law involved.
The idea for the scheme is sometimes transmitted from place to place by
urban legend, other times it is introduced to an area by skilled
travelling confidence men who come to town and sell dozens of "slots"
before moving on, leaving the initial dupes to take the heat when the
pyramid reaches saturation and collapses.
Because these schemes involve larger per-sucker dollar amounts, law
enforcement agencies take them very seriously. The best thing to do if
you are offered one of these by a stranger is to report him to the
police right away.
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The "4 Reports" Scheme
This is a variation on the classic chain letter, with "classic pyramid"
features.
Like the classic chain, you are presented with a few paragraphs of hard
sales copy for the scheme and some testimonials, and often a "personal
note from the originator of the plan", almost always one Edward Green.
In this scheme, there is a list of exactly four names to whom you are to
send five dollars each. Unlike the classic chain, however, each of the
four names sends you a different "report". This is a one- or two-page
mini-article of interest to "multi-level marketing" opportunity seekers.
In return for your money, you acquire the right to redistribute the
chain and the four reports freely, thus multiplying the chain. As in the
classic chain, your name "bumps" everyone down the chain. As your name
is bumped by successive generations of the chain, you (theoretically)
get orders for successive reports - when you get orders for the second
report, you know your name has propagated another generation, and when
you get orders for the last report, your name has propagated three
generations!
This scheme is in a legal gray area in some jurisdictions because of the
questionable value and legitimacy of the four "reports", but it usually
counts as fraud anyway because the letter suggests that a five percent
return rate is a poor or typical case scenario and bases its claims of
gain on that rate. In fact the reply rate should be much less than
claimed - anyone who's worked in legitimate direct mail advertising can
tell you that direct mailings typically produce order rates of 1 to 5
orders per THOUSAND mailings, depending on the product sold and the
quality of the mailing list used.
This scheme is easily identified by the titles of the "reports" you're
asked to buy:
"How To Make $250,000 Through Multi-Level Mail Order Sales"
"Major Corporations and Multi-Level Sales"
"Sources For The Best Mailing Lists"
"Evaluating Multi-Level Sales Plans"
Many of the responses to our questionnaire included copies of these four
reports. I'm here to tell you that they are nothing more than the "long
form" of the chain letter itself! And they really don't tell you much
that someone with common sense wouldn't have known already. The third
report, "Sources for the best mailing lists" is almost comical - here
you are paying $5 for a list of maybe 5 or 6 companies, at least one of
which knows full well that their main business is selling lists to chain
letter victims! In other words, you're paying to find out how to be
screwed before you actually pay to be screwed!
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The Envelope-Stuffing Scam
This scheme is spread thorough classified ads in newspapers and
magazines. You might have seen these ads before: "Make $1000+ per week
stuffing envelopes - Send for free details to [con man's address]".
Sounds like an easy, legitimate work-at-home job, doesn't it?
When you send for the free details, you get a leaflet which tells you
really very little about what you're supposed to stuff the envelopes
with. Instead it tries to sell you the complete plan for $20, using
similar high pressure copy to that found in other chains. Most
importantly, no mention is made that the plan is a self-replicating
chain until after you've sent the $20 - and found out that there's no
refund allowed!
Once you send the $20, what you get are instructions for placing an ad
in magazines or newspapers to recruit envelope stuffers! These
instructions come on two or three sheets of paper. Great value, eh? Of
course, the free details make it sound like $20 is a drop in the well
compared with the income you'll be receiving.
The envelopes you're supposed to stuff contain either the free details
or the $20 plan itself!
Don't believe the promises of "$3 per envelope" or similar. The
promises of financial reward by these schemes are almost always
downright false, and are based on the theoretical possibility of a
best-case profit scenario - if one in seven "free" mailings results in a
$20 order, it works out to about $2.86 per envelope before expenses.
However the free mailing leaflet implies that you get a check from
someone for $3 for each envelope which is simply untrue!
Of course, this is an endless chain, but many magazines have largely put
a stop to it by disallowing ads for envelope-stuffing opportunities
unless the advertiser furnishes proof that it's not an endless chain
scheme.
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What to do about them
The simplest thing to do with a chain letter is to throw it in the
wastebasket, but it would be better to recycle it. Chain letters
already waste a lot of paper!
However, if you have received more than one recently, you've likely made
it onto a mailing list. This means that you'll continue to receive the
chain letters from different people to whom your name and address have
been sold.
Some chain letters make mention of one or more mailing list companies
from whom you are encouraged to purchase such lists. You can stop the
letters by writing to these companies, one of which certainly has your
name on file. If you request that they remove you from their list, they
will comply. In many jurisdictions it's the law, and of course it's
always bad PR to ignore such requests. Those companies that know they
are feeding a chain letter will likely comply quickly and eagerly to
avoid unwanted attention from law enforcement.
If you had recently entered a sweepstakes or a contest (the "you may
already have won" variety), you're on their mailing list. That list has
probably been involved in the chain of events which led to your getting
the chain letter, and you should take steps to get off that list.
Unfortunately, it's not well known yet that many mail-in contests exist
primarily to build mailing lists! You can avoid getting onto chain
letter lists by throwing million-dollar mail-in sweepstakes packages in
the recycling bin! Remember, you may NOT have already won!
Sending an envelope back to the names on the chain without sufficient
postage and no return address will not discourage them. However,
sending them a stern letter explaining that you decline to participate
in their illegal scheme might. You might even want to send them this
article!
If you have received a great deal of chain letters, you might feel like
turning them over to the post office. That's fine, however, keep in
mind that the geometric nature of chain letters means that there are a
LOT of these letters out there. The post office can't possibly
investigate them all, and they may not do anything about your particular
case. Contact them by phone and ask if they are interested in pursuing
chain letters. If they say it's a big problem for them and they're
already swamped, it will be more effective for you to voice your
displeasure with the chain people themselves and to get your name taken
off the mailing lists, as above.
If you are ever approached to participate in a chain or pyramid with a
significant entry cost (many verbal pyramids cost $100 or more to join!)
then you should contact the police immediately and furnish them with all
the information you can.
If you contact a chain mailer, never make any threats, as this itself is
illegal and will only put you on the defensive. Just firmly explain
that the chain is illegal (quoting chapter and verse of your state or
federal laws, if you're energetic enough to research them) and that you
don't want to hear from them ever again. Since most chain mailers are
not career frauds, a few of this type of letter may be enough to scare
them off and abandon the scheme. The letter that accompanied our
questionnaire was written like this, and it alone was enough to shock
some sense into many of the respondents.
When you receive a chain letter, ask your friends, co-workers, relatives
and so on if they have recently received the same letter. If they have,
get them writing back letters to the chain mailers, similar to yours.
The more disapproval the mailer receives, the sooner he or she will
quit.
Since chain letters are illegal, you could also inform the mailer's
mail-box provider that the box is being used for an illegal scheme. In
Canada, mail-box providers require a signed agreement that the box will
not be used for illegal purposes. Operating a chain letter is grounds
under these contracts for immediate termination of service! This will
DEFINITELY get the attention of the perpetrator.
And above all, never EVER fall for a chain letter's pitch! They are
designed to suck you in and they use powerful language and misleading
information to do it. They sound too good to be true, and now you know:
they are!
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Closing Notes
The author is not a lawyer. Nothing in this article should be
considered legal advice. In no way can Whirlwind Software or the author
be held responsible for the consequences of your following any
suggestion in this article. If in doubt about a particular issue,
contact your local police department, your local post office manager, or
your provincial or state Attorney General's department.
In describing the modi operandi of the four types of chain scheme, the
author has used the second person for clarity. In no way is this to be
construed as a suggestion that anyone reading this article carry out
any sort of illegal scheme. Big penalties surely await those who do!
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For Further Information
If you have access to the Internet, the alt.business.multi-level FAQ
(Frequently Asked Questions List) provides not only a good overview of
the Multi-Level Marketing phenomenon but also a very clear
differentiation between pyramid schemes and legitimate MLM. It's well
worth a read even if you have no interest in MLM.
Also on the Internet, there's an underground information series out
there on the Information Superhighway called the Cult of the Dead Cow.
"CDC" is pretty well known in cyberspace, for they have over 300 very
unusual information files for free public use. One CDC file of particular
interest is called "The Big Envelope Stuffing Scam", written by a fellow
calling himself "Hanover Fiste". It's the source for much of this
author's information on the Envelope Stuffing Scam and presents detailed
information, from the perpetrator's point of view, of this particular
scheme. Thanks to Hanover for spending $20 to save a lot of people the
same expense! The file is usually called CDC-223.TXT.
The U.S. Postal Service operates a recorded information line 24 hours a
day, which includes fraud-related information. Call 718-522-7530 and,
using a tone telephone, select these recordings:
103 (Swindles Aimed At Senior Citizens)
104 (Work At Home Schemes)
309 (Chain Letters)
(Thanks to Ray Normandeau for pointing me to the USPS recordings!)
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BREAK THE CHAIN - Questionnaire Responses
Between March and May, 1995, I circulated a questionnaire to
individuals who had been involved in chain letters, both on the
Internet and through the mail. Out of about 40 mailed copies
and dozens of Internet emails plus an unspecified number of
Usenet posts of this questionnaire, I only received 12 completed
questionnaires back.
This could be explained by several things:
- Many postal respondents were using post office boxes
which might have only been rented for a few months
- E-Mail posters may have been instructed by system
administrators not to respond to any feedback they
receive, or may have actually lost their network
privileges
- Those who didn't respond might be embarrassed or
angry about the whole thing and just don't want to
talk about it (this is the most likely in my opinion)
I had hoped to receive enough responses to draw up charts and
percentages, etc., but with only a dozen questionnaires there
just isn't enough data for that. Nevertheless, the responses I
did receive confirm what most people already know about chain
letters - they don't work. However, considering how little
response chain letters generate, I think we can draw the
conclusion that the danger of an exponential increase in mail
due to chain letters is a misconception.
Anyway, here is a non-scientific summary of the responses.
> (1) Where did you originally pick up the chain? Was it on a
> BBS, in a usenet newsgroup, mailed to you in hardcopy, or
> what?
Most respondents I contacted by Canada Post had received the
chain that way too. One respondent found it under his
windshield wiper. All of the Internet and BBS respondents
picked up the chain through Usenet News.
> (2) How far have you propagated the chain yourself? Within
> B.C.? Canada? the U.S.? Internationally? If so, what
> countries? Electronic BBSes? Through Fidonet? Internet?
> Usenet news? Other means?
A majority of postal respondents indicated that their mailings
covered their local region, usually a province or state, or a
part of one. Only about 20 percent indicated that they also
sent copies out-of-state. E-Mail respondents tend to start
"spamming" Usenet newsgroups but quickly get cold feet when the
complaints start up.
> (3) Is this the first time you have participated in a chain
> letter or pyramid scheme? If not, was/were the previous
> one(s) different? How so?
Everyone who responded indicated that it was the first time.
> (4) How much money have you spent on pursuing this plan,
> including postage, online services connect time, etc.?
> (approximately - don't go to the effort of building an entire
> accounting system to answer this one!)
Postal respondents averaged $571 in expenses (which ranged from
about $150 to over $1000). Too few email respondents answered
this question to give a statistically valid figure, but those
who did indicated that they had spent considerably below the
postal average, certainly due to the low cost of Usenet news
posting.
> (5) Have you kept records of your participation on this scheme
> for tax purposes, e.g. declaring the income, writing off the
> expenses, etc.?
Everyone who responded to this question said yes, except one.
> (6) How many copies of the chain have you mailed out?
E-Mail respondents usually only post a few messages (anywhere
from one to a couple dozen) before they are flamed into
desisting. Postal respondents average 593 copies sent, with 500
being most typical (likely the size of a mailing list). Some
sent 1000 copies, others as few as 200.
> (7) About how much money have you made on this chain?
Everyone who spent money reported losing money. While none of
the postal respondents received no money at all, all of them had
gross returns that ranged from 1.5 percent to 27 percent of
their investment. Most e-mail respondents reported having never
received any money at all, having had their articles canceled on
them before anyone who would participate could read them.
Unfortunately, this survey didn't go out to the names down the
line from the e-mail respondents or we might have gotten
different results.
> (8) Where did you get the names and addresses of the
> individuals to whom you have mailed copies of the chain?
Most postal respondents used a mailing list, either from a well
known local company or from the ones listed in the "Four
Reports". This question drew very few responses from e-mail
respondents.
> (9) Have you ever gotten any "hate mail" or threats of legal
> action or charges (not including the letter attached to this
> questionnaire) as a direct result of your participation in the
> chain? Or any other real or threatened sanctions?
E-Mail respondents report receiving flames via e-mail and in the
same Usenet newsgroups to which they posted their chains, with a
smaller incidence of warnings from system administrators.
Occasionally a Usenet poster will come back some time later and
retract/apologize for the posting - this is more often at the
direction of a sysadmin than not.
All the postal respondents indicated that the survey (and the
accompanying letter which was somewhat strongly worded) was the
only negative feedback they'd received. This would suggest that
most people really do just throw chain letters out - as opposed
to reporting them to the post office.
> (10) Has your mail volume increased to the point where your
> mailman has complained or been visibly or openly irritated
> with the number of letters you've received? If not, has the
> mail increased enough for your family or roommates to notice
> and say something about it?
For the e-mail respondents, the answer tends to be yes, but that
the e-mail boxes are full of flames, not inquiries.
The postal respondents all had very little response, and thus
very poor monetary returns.
> (11) What drew you to this plan? Were you unemployed? A
> "starving student"? Just looking for some fun? Hoping to get
> out of a financial crisis? Some other motivation?
For most e-mail respondents and about two thirds of the postal
respondents, the answer to this is that they were just curious
or looking for some fun or adventure. Generally, the email
respondents and those postal respondents who spent the least
amount of money pursuing the chain, tended to be skeptical from
the start and were only doing it to see if it works.
Unfortunately, however, many of the postal respondents who spent
the most money on the scheme did so because they needed more
money and thought that a chain letter might offer the break they
needed, or they took the chain to be a legitimate business
opportunity.
> (12) Assuming you had never received this letter and
> questionnaire, would you have done this again? If so, why?
> And what changes would you make next time? If not, why not?
The answer to this question was unanimously NO.
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CONTACT INFORMATION
Printed copies of this article can be ordered for $3 each including
postage from the address below.
Whirlwind Software
Unit 639, 185-911 Yates St.
Victoria, B.C. Canada
V8V 4Y9
The author is always looking to improve and augment this article for
future re-release. Please address comments, corrections, law text
quotations, chain specimens and interesting stories to
[email protected]. Thank you.
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