Look at this pyramid scheme spam I got! (long)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hey all,
Nothing much, just a mundane and pointless post about the pyramind scheme scam spam I got unsolicited in my inbox last night. I know this stuff is illegal, how can someone have the balls to pitch it to a stranger via e-mail?!?!?? I’ve never gotten a pyramid scheme e-mail before, so I thought I’d post it in its entirety and see if anyone’s seen something similar, perhaps get your thoughts and opinions, etc. I included the sender’s name and e-mail for reference purposes.

Oh, and the last few days I’ve received several weird e-mails that had attachments for seemingly no reason. (for example, one was labeled “DELIVERY FAILURE”, but wasn’t from anyone I had sent e-mail to, and you had to open an attachment to read it. No way!) I know that these are common tricks to initiate viruses, so I deleted them. This is the first time I’ve had strange attachments show up on my e-mail, in 7 years of having e-mail! Two firsts of bad/evil e-mails in a two- or three-day period! What’s up with that?

Anyway, here’s the scam spam copy:

From : John Goldsmith <mover10@s-mail.com>
Reply-To : “John Goldsmith” <mover10@s-mail.com>
Sent : Friday, May 21, 2004 7:32 AM
To : [ggurl]
Subject : Give and you shall receive!

| | | Inbox

Hi.

Follow the directions below and in two weeks you’ll have up to $10,000.00 in your StormPay account. There is a very high rate of participation in the program because of its low investment and high rate of return. Just donate $10.00 to one person!

THAT’S ALL !!! If you are a skeptic and don’t think the program will work,
I urge you to give it a try anyway! It REALLY WORKS! Why do you think so many people are promoting it ? LOOK AT IT THIS WAY:
If the Program is a total failure for you and you never get even $1.00 in return, your total loss will be the $10.00 donation!

If the Program is only moderately successful for you, your StormPay account will have several hundred dollars deposited into it within the next few days!
If you actively participate in the Program, you could have up to $20,000.00 in your StormPay account within two weeks! Now let me tell you the simple details.

GETTING STARTED
If you’re not already a user of StormPay, the very first thing you need to do is go to StormPay.com and sign up. It takes two minutes.
Now log into your StormPay account, and send the Storm Pay account of the person listed in Position 1 a donation of $10.00 Storm Pay will ask you to select type.
(Select “service” and put “$10.00 Donation” for subject.)
When person in Position 1 receives notification of your payment, you can simply copy this page and change the names in position #1 and #2 as instructed.
Remember, only the person in Position 1 on the list gets your $10.00 donation. Send them a donation then remove that persons name and from the list.
Replace their name with that of the person presently listed in Position 2.
(Position 2 is moved to Position 1) Now add your name and Storm Pay account information in the space marked Position 2.
After you have retyped the names in the new order, IMMEDIATELY send the revised message to as many people as possible. PROMOTE! PROMOTE! The more you promote the Program, the more you will receive in donations!!

That’s all there is to it. When your name reaches Position 1 (usually in less than two days) it will be your turn to receive donations. $10.00 donations will be sent to your Storm Pay account by people just like you who are willing to donate $10.00 and receive up to $20,000 in less than two weeks. Because there are only two (2) names on the list you can anticipate your 90% of your donations within two weeks.

Anytime you find yourself short on cash just take out your $10.00 donation program and send it to 50 prospects. Imagine if you sent it to 100 or even more.
Most people spend more than $10 on the lottery every week with no real hope of ever winning.
>
POSITION # 1 J. Anthony
Storm Pay Account:ProWrestlefan@aol.com <mailto:ProWrestlefan@aol.com>

POSITION # 2 Gunter
. Storm Pay account: gunterk@bigblue.net.au <mailto:gunterk@bigblue.net.au>

integrity and honesty make this plan work. Participants who actively promote this program for one day will average between $8000 and $12000 and receive the donations within two weeks. This is not a chain letter. You are simply making a donation of $10.00 to another person. The Program does not violate
title 18 section 1302 of the Postal and lottery code. Remember -TIME is of the essence. YOU can choose to live Paycheck-to-Paycheck or live FREE from FINANCIAL BONDAGE. Become a part of the donation program and help
people help people.

Success is a journey - Not a destination
Start Your Journey TODAY

to remove yourself send a blank email with "REMOVE"in the subject
line to:mover10.com

2

Yep, it’s the same pyramid scheme that’s been plaguing e-mail inboxes for over 15 years, only now it’s more automated so you don’t have to move the names around yourself. Just another try at making it even easier to scam money from you.

3

Money and personal information. I don’t know StormPay but I’ll bet they want credit card or bank account numbers etc.

It’s getting to where I’m afraid to even shop on line.

4

It’s the people who continue to fall for all the scams and nonsense that perpetuate it. How long has Cecil been fighting ignorance? Hope he doesn’t plan on retiring.

Amway is what always comes to mind when I hear pyramid scheme, because that’s a legal pyramid scheme.

You could e-mail a bunch of people and call it the Nigerian Pyramid Get Money for Giving me your Credit Card Information Plan for Success and people will still jump in and get taken.

5

Apparently a PayPal competitor, which has also been used for these schemes.

6

AllOneStormPayInvestmentClub! PROMOTE! PROMOTE! OK!

7

Wow, I never get emails like these. $8000 for only one day? Do I need the email to sign up?

8

Okay. Back in the early '80’s, my family participated in a pyramid scheme. We checked with the Minnesota Attorney General’s office to make sure it wasn’t illegal. We also encouraged others to do the same thing. The AG said "It’s not illegal as it’s done here, but we don’t recommend doing it."It was very much the traditional pyramid scheme. wih $100 exchanging hands. The one difference was, you were expected to work your list of names. If someone you sold to hadn’t sold both of theirs, you were supposed to help them. You were to track, like a family tree, the entire chain, so you could see if it broke down at any point and help out. My mother, who could sell ice to eskimos, would hold parties inviting people interested and explain how it worked. She started every meeting with the words “I can only guarantee that you could lose $100 if you don’t work hard at this.”

All in all, I’d say our family brought in about $20,000. There were people who bought for their churches, the churches making enough for needed repairs, etc. We didn’t claim there wouldn’t be a saturation point, although we really didn’t find it. We did find things like, when mailing empty envelopes to ourselves from mailboxes throughout the city, something like 30 -40% of our mail at that point was apparently being stolen by postal workers.

So, no, it’s probably not a great idea to become involved in a pyramid scheme. But I can say from personal experience, that receiving a half dozen $50 bills in the mail each day isn’t a bad thing at all.

StG

9

Dr. Bronner? Is that you??

:smiley: Lol!

10

I like this one:
> ** Simply send this e-mail to 9 of your mates **
>
> INSTRUCTIONS
>
> Anaesthetise your wife / girlfriend, put her in a large carton, (don’t
> forget some ventilation holes), and send it to the person who is at
> the top of your list.
>
> Soon, your name will be at the top of the list, and you will receive
> 823,542 women through the post.
>
> Statistically, among those women, there will be at least: 0.5 Miss
> Worlds, 2.5 models, 463 wild nymphos, 3,234 good-looking
> nymphos,20,198 who enjoy multiple orgasms, and 40,198 bi-sexual women.
> In total, that is 64,294 women who are simply hornier, less inhibited,
> and tastier than the grumpy old bag you posted off. And, best of all,
> your original package is guaranteed not to be one of those that come
> back to you.
>
> DO NOT BREAK THIS CHAIN LETTER ! ! !
>
> One bloke for example who sent the letter to only 5 instead of 9 of
> his friends got his original bird back, still in the old dressing gown
> he sent her off in, with the same old migraine attack, and the
> accusatorial expression on her face. On the same day, the
> international supermodel he’d been living with since he sent off his
> old girlfriend moved out to live with his best friend (to whom he had
> not sent the chain letter).
>
> While I am sending this letter, the bloke that is in 6th place above
> me has already received 837 women and is lying in hospital suffering
> from exhaustion. Outside his ward are 452 more packages.
>
> YOU MUST BELIEVE THIS E-MAIL
>
> This is a unique opportunity to achieve a totally satisfying sex life.
> No expensive meals out, no lengthy conversations about trivialities
> (that only interest women) just so that you can bonk her. No
> obligations, no grumpy mother-in-law, and no unpleasant surprises like
> marriage or engagement.
>
> Do not hesitate … send this letter today to 9 of your best friends.
>
> PS. - Even when you have no girlfriend, you can send your vacuum
> cleaner
>
> PPS. - This letter can also be copied to women you know so that they
> can prepare themselves for the great adventure that they may soon
> undertake.