# "get rich" email thingies... legal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 2002, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rich-email-thingies-legal/140185 "2002-12-03T08:31:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fallus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5e925/32.png) [@Fallus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fallus)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rich-email-thingies-legal/140185/1 "2002-12-03T08:31:35Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rich-email-thingies-legal/140185/2 "2002-12-03T08:37:34Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rich-email-thingies-legal/140185/3 "2002-12-03T08:42:34Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Fallus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5e925/32.png) [@Fallus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fallus)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rich-email-thingies-legal/140185/4 "2002-12-03T08:47:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*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… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rich-email-thingies-legal/140185/5 "2002-12-03T09:20:45Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-rich-email-thingies-legal/140185/6 "2002-12-03T09:25:39Z")
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.