You all know these emails where you have to send $5 to five people, leave the top one of and put your name on the bottom. They claim that you’ll get rich (yeah right). I’m pretty sure they don’t work, but I was just wondering if these things are actually legal?
Do a search for “pyramid scheme legality” for information. The laws vary from venue to venue, but I have little doubt that such schemes are illegal virtually everywhere in Canada and the U.S., for starters. The slippery nature of the internet makes enforcement tricky, though.
Just for the record, posting chain letter spam to the message boards here (as many of these schemes seem to suggest you should do) will get you banned really quickly.
I don’t have the intention of posting such things here (not because I’m afraid of getting banned, I would find a way around it I think), I don’t even have the intention of participating in such a chain letter. I did it once when I was 15 (8 years ago) and made a whopping $15 of profit! 
I was only wondering if it was legal…
I mentioned it for the benefit of anyone reading the thread and contemplating the act, sorry if it seemed to be directed solely at you.
Hmmm, the aynrand in me dislikes the use of the word “profit” to describe the proceeds of a pyramid scheme. I always took “profit” as the result of doing something useful, like creating something or building something or delivering something, i.e. making the world “better” in some sense. Since pyramid schemes are zero-sum, its not like anything productive is actually being done. The participants are just hoping the thing won’t collapse before the money slides their way.