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1995-07-04
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182 lines
Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!panix!not-for-mail
From: ewl@panix.com (Emery Lapinski)
Newsgroups: alt.make.money.fast,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: alt.make.money.fast Mini FAQ
Followup-To: alt.make.money.fast
Date: 4 Jul 1995 00:08:29 -0400
Organization: Emery Lapinski, private citizen.
Lines: 166
Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
Expires: 08/31/95
Message-ID: <3taert$fna@panix2.panix.com>
Reply-To: ewl@panix.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: panix2.panix.com
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.make.money.fast:5266 alt.answers:10381 news.answers:47649
Archive-name: usenet/make-money-fast-minifaq
Last-modified: 05/18/1995
Maintainer: ewl@panix.com
Version: 0.4
Title: Frequently Asked Questions for the Usenet newsgroup alt.make.money.fast
Please feel free to correct me, my spelling, send me additional
information you'd like to see included here, pointers to more resources
pertaining to MAKE.MONEY.FAST or other chain letters.
-- ewl@panix.com
Here's a URL for the HTML Version of this FAQ:
<A HREF="http://minyos.xx.rmit.edu.au/~s924603/mmf.html">HTML Version</A>
========================================================================
"Don't you think that for your first crime you shouldn't attach your
name and address and mail it to several thousand strangers?"
-- Dogbert in Scott Adams' Dilbert
========================================================================
Q1. What is the purpose of alt.make.money.fast?
A1. Stefan Chakerian (schake@tesuque.cs.sandia.gov) created
alt.make.money.fast in mid 1994 to make fun of people who post the
MAKE.MONEY.FAST(MMF) chain letter and its variants. He also
figured the name would get the MLM people to post their ads here
so they'd end up declaring their post a scam and inviting a good
round of fun-poking. (This second objective has worked almost too
well: at various times, alt.make.money.fast has been virtually
indistinguishable from alt.business.multi-level.) There was not a
tagline sent out with the original newgroup, but the first refresher
was
"All your favorite scams. No purchase necessary."
and the latest is
"And piss off thousands of people even faster."
alt.make.money.fast is now also a forum for the tracking of MMF.
If you run across a copy of the post, or any other chain letter,
please copy the "interesting" information to alt.make.money.fast:
who posted it, what group you found it in, the current top-ten
list, etc. If someone has added a new testimonial include that
too. See example EX1 below. And please feel free discuss chain
letters in general in this group.
Q2. Is it OK to post my Multi-level Marketing(MLM) plan to
alt.make.money.fast since it's a good way to "make money fast"!
A2. Do not post MLM advertisements, or any other advertisements to
alt.make.money.fast. While it was fun for a while, this group
is not really intended for these kinds of discussions. There are
groups called alt.business.multi-level, and alt.sex.telephone, and
probably plenty of others where your particular post *might* be
appropriate. READ THE FAQS FOR THOSE GROUPS BEFORE POSTING TO
THEM. Please visit news.groups.questions and news.newusers.questions
as well.
Q3. Where is an appropriate place to post MMF?
A3. There is not *really* any appropriate place to post MMF, especially
if you think you are going to make money. Of course, if you
cannot resist the urge to post MMF, you are invited to post it
to alt.make.money.fast (and NOT to any other group); think of
alt.make.money.fast as your pressure release valve. Be
warned, there are quite a few people who do not understand the
purpose of alt.make.money.fast and will attempt to chastise
you for posting MMF anyway.
Q4. The text of MMF assures me that it is perfectly legal so what's
all the fuss about?
A4. From the misc.legal FAQ:
Posting [MMF] violates the federal wire fraud statute, and
undoubtedly various state anti-fraud laws as well.
The relevant federal statute, 18 U.S.C. sec. 1343, reads as follows:
WHOEVER, HAVING DEVISED OR INTENDING TO DEVISE ANY SCHEME OR ARTIFICE TO
DEFRAUD, OR FOR OBTAINING MONEY OR PROPERTY BY MEANS OF FALSE OR
FRAUDULENT PRETENSES, REPRESENTATIONS, OR PROMISES, TRANSMITS OR CAUSES
TO BE TRANSMITTED BY MEANS OF WIRE, radio, or television COMMUNICATION IN
INTERSTATE OR FOREIGN COMMERCE, ANY WRITINGS, signs, signals, pictures,
or sounds FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXECUTING SUCH SCHEME OR ARTIFICE, SHALL BE
FINED not more than $1,000 OR IMPRISONED not more than five years, or
both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person
shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30
years, or both. [Emphasis added]
While there are no reported cases involving the "Dave Rhodes"
letter itself, such letters clearly fall within the scope of section
1343. To begin with, "[i]t is well settled that such a 'pyramid' or
'chain-letter' scheme constitutes mail fraud" under section 1341 when
distributed through the U.S. Postal Service. _United States v.
William Savran & Assocs., Inc._, 755 F. Supp. 1165, 1181 (E.D.N.Y.
1991) (citing _United States v. Armantrout_, 411 F.2d 60, 61-62 (2d
Cir. 1969)).
Moreover, "scheme to defraud" means the same thing in section 1343
as it does in section 1341. _United States v. Doherty_, 969 F.2d 425,
429 (7th Cir. 1992). Thus, since the "Dave Rhodes" letter would
violate the federal mail fraud statute if mailed, it necessarily
violates the federal wire fraud statute when transmitted over the wires
that propagate Usenet.
Finally, it is worth noting that the "Dave Rhodes" letter also
violates many state fraud laws. For example, a substantially similar
scheme known as the "airplane game" -- in which each participant pays to
join, and in turn receives payment from those he recruits -- violates
New York's fraud laws, NY Penal Law secs. 190.60 & 190.65. _People v.
Riccelli_, 149 A.D.2d 941, 941-42, 540 N.Y.S.2d 74, 74-75 (4th Dep't
1989).
Q5. Who is Dave Rhodes? Is he a real person? Is he in jail?
A5. From the net.legends FAQ:
Dave Rhodes was a student at Columbia Union College in Takoma
Park, MD. This is a Seventh Day Adventist college. The posting
machine was !cucstud, aka Columbia Union College, Student. It
passed news upstream to uunet. Cucstud was a 3B2, and there were
two or three more. Note this predated the widespread usage of the
pseudodomain of { }.UUCP, and I don't recall if the site was ever
so named. Needless to say, Leroy Cain, the sysadm, was not
amused. This posting was made in 1987-1988, sometime just after
the infamous jj@portal one, and his incoming mail queue was
impressive. I do not know if Leroy took the matter to the Dean of
Students, but do know he posted an apology, and ensured that Dave
would not be doing that again, at least at THAT site. As for why
I had an account on cucstud, and knew Leroy, when my only
connection was that I caught a bus to work in front of the place
every morning; that's a different story........
========================================================================
EX1: Example of MMF tracking post to alt.make.money.fast:
From: ewl@panix.com (Emery Lapinski)
Newsgroups: alt.make.money.fast
Subject: alt.tv.bh90210 -- MONEY FOR YOU IN THE MAIL!
References: <IjKyy2u00iWTEDYjtn@andrew.cmu.edu>
Wes is about to make some cash! Go Wes!
-Emery
[ From: Rebecca Marie Hersh <rh3n+@andrew.cmu.edu> ]
[ Newsgroups: alt.tv.bh90210 ]
[ Subject: MONEY FOR YOU IN THE MAIL! ]
[ Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 00:30:42 -0500 ]
[ Message-ID: <IjKyy2u00iWTEDYjtn@andrew.cmu.edu> ]
1. Wes Schoppe--1507 Sage Boot Pflugerville, TX 78660
2. Brenda Benzer--PO Box 1084 Austin, TX 78767
3. Corine Yonkers--5401 Avenue F Austin, TX 78751
4. Erik Price--P.O. Box 203443 Jollyville TX 78720-3443
5. Marty LaJoy--2355 Murray Hill Rd. #440D Cleveland, OH 44106
6. Jose Jimanez--2355 Murray Hill Rd. #440H Cleveland, Oh 44106
7. Charles Cross--502 O~Shaugnessy Hall VA Tech Blacksburg,VA 24060-0012
8. Allen DeFranco--9636 Orangewood Dr. Thornton, CO 80221
9. David Butler--P.O.Box 13733 Fort Wayne, IN 46865-3733
10. Rebecca Hersh--Box 4276, 5115 Margaret Morrison St., Pittsburgh PA 15213
========================================================================
Thanks to the following people for contributions to this FAQ:
Joshua Rowe <s924603@minyos.xx.rmit.EDU.AU>
Stefan Chakerian <schake@tesuque.cs.sandia.gov>
--
ewl@panix.com | http://www.panix.com/~ewl | "You can have my useless cat(1)
when you pry it from my cold dead finger(1)." | This work is Copyright 1995
Emery Lapinski and is freely redistributable by anyone and anything with the
exception of Microsoft Network. | "Green Cards and Spam" grepped by C&S?