Hi Cheri,

Thank you for sounding the alarm.  This scam has been going on now for many years in one form or another online.  It's practically as old as the internet, but just keeps on evolving.

If you do a Google search for "Title 18 Sec. 1302 & 1241 of the United States Postal laws," as posted on the site, you will simply find several hundred sites offering exactly the same scheme.

Here is what the US Postal Service actually says in a post regarding Title 18, the part of the postal service related to fraud, obscenity, identity theft, pyramid schemes, etc.: 

 Do not be fooled if the chain letter is used to sell inexpensive reports on credit, mail order sales, mailing lists, or other topics. The primary purpose is to take your money, not to sell information. "Selling" a product does not ensure legality. Be doubly suspicious if there's a claim that the U.S. Postal Service or U.S. Postal Inspection Service has declared the letter legal. This is said only to mislead you. Neither the Postal Service nor Postal Inspectors give prior approval to any chain letter. 

Section 1302 covers chain letters, and Section 1241 doesn't even exist!  The fact is that the scheme is illegal, has always been illegal, and has never been endorsed by Oprah Winfrey.

For further reading on scams, hoaxes, fraud, spam, etc., and how to deal with it, visit these sites:

http://www.breakthechain.org/

http://snopes.com

http://scambusters.org

http://urbanlegends.about.com

http://www.hoax-slayer.com

God bless,

Dave

 

 

Hey Cheri.

Thanks for Caring and Sharing.

 

maxinvegas

Hi, Kenneth LOL. I briefly considered whether posting the link would get the thread undeserved attention, but decided that it was easier than reproducing it here, and that people who see it elsewhere, as I first did months ago in my email, would need to recognize it. I'd like to think the person who posted it here was a victim of the scam, rather than being the one who's 'running' it, as you say. It's up to those of us who have been around the block a couple of times to protect the newbies and the gullible from both malicious and accidental misinformation. Cheri

Dave, Thanks for your additions to the information. When I got notification about the thread I referenced, I intended to put more links to the truth in my post, but it was late and I was otherwise occupied, so I settled for the PayPal part. I appreciate your doing the rest of my homework, lol. What really burns me about this particular letter is the reference to Oprah Winfrey, who many in the US and I suppose elsewhere think is a wonderful and highly credible person. I'm not a devotee, but I have a generally good impression of the lady, so when I saw her name on that first instance of seeing the letter some months ago, I opened it, rather than deleting it as I would ordinarily. It's a shameful theft of her credibility. I know we'll never be able to completely eliminate instances of people trying to use this community for this type of thing, but at least we can educate its members about them so that it doesn't work, especially the new ones. Cheri

Hello, Cheri!

Thanks for the information.  I keep getting these emails too.  I even get several from a certain individual in another group complaining how much money he's lost or "invested" and that he's not getting paid, so on and so forth.  The very next sentence he writes declares the virtues and reliability of yet another program which is just like all the others he's joined.  Yes, the fellow names names.

Sure enough, two weeks to a month later I get another email from him declaring the new program isn't paying and is possibly a scam...I'm sure you get the cycle.  I once replied gently suggesting that he try a new form of business or income since none of his programs seem to be working.  Hmmm.  His reply was that not all of these programs were bad and some had paid him if only for a little while.  Okay, this is like gambling to me.  You might get a good run, but sooner or later you're going to lose if you keep playing.

Anyway, people who are not as experienced or knowledgeable as we are do need to be warned that many (if not all) of these programs are scams and advised not to give their money away.

Kate