ON GUARD – Fraud Spotter #18:
Chain letters
by Laura Quarantiello
© 2004 Tiare Publications Group
Chain letters will always be with us. Even though it is well known
that these are outright frauds, the reluctance to break the chain
and bring bad luck or miss out on a sure-fire opportunity drives
folks into participating who should know better. Chain letters ask
that you invest a small amount in order to gain a
larger "guaranteed" amount. You don't need to be a mathematician to
understand that chain letters simply cannot work. The first
investor, who is usually the scam artist, may end up making some
money, but everyone else is doomed to failure. Typically, you are
asked to mail a copy of the chain letter along with money to up to
six more people who, in turn, are asked to mail letters to six other
people and so on. If you add it up you will see that chain letters
never pay off.
Number of mailings Number of participants
1 6
2 36
3 216
4 1,296
5 7,776
6 46,656
7 279,936
8 1,679,616
9 10,077,696
10 60,466,176
11 362,797,056
12 2,176,782,336
13 13,060,694,016
Census Bureau estimates put the population of the United States at
around 270 million people and the world population at over six
billion. You can see from the chart that in order for a chain letter
to work we would need to find a few billion more people to
participate! Smart consumers know that getting even a thousand
people involved in such a chain would be a feat of magic. Break the
chain and stop the fraud.
Laura Quarantiello hates criminals and the crimes they commit. Her
book "On Guard" can help you minimize the risk you family faces from
criminal elements. Get more information at:
www.tiare.com/onguard.htm
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