Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!uw-beaver!uw-june!ka
From: ka@cs.washington.edu (Kenneth Almquist)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Ponzi schemes on USENET
Message-ID: <10670@june.cs.washington.edu>
Date: 9 Feb 90 22:59:47 GMT
Organization: U of Washington, Computer Science, Seattle
Lines: 20

There is a chain letter scheme which has apparently been floating
around on bulletin board systems for a while, and has just appeared on
USENET for the second time.  In summary, the scheme involves sending
$1.00 to each of five names on a list, deleting the top name from the
list, and adding your name to the bottom.  The scheme allegedly
originated as a postal scam, and was transferred to electronic bulletin
boards by someone named Dave Rhodes.  In a rather transparent attempt
to avoid postal laws, the letter tells the receiver of the money
record the names of the senders and construct a mailing list.  If you
want to read the full thing, see article <2142@ultb.isc.rit.edu>.

The first time that the chain letter appeared, several people posted
to the net saying that they had contacted postal authorities or the
FBI, and the system administrator shortly announced that he had
eliminated the offender's account.  At least one person has notified
postal authorities about the recent posting.

Are there other things that we should be doing?  For example, should
we add a warning about chain letter scams to the USENET documentation?
				Kenneth Almquist