Remember those chain letters you would get via email (or even by snail mail…but I’m dating myself there so, yeah)?
There would be wild claims of how you had an opportunity to have $5 bills, or $10 bills or whatever pouring into your mailbox. There would be a list of names and you were supposed to send the $5 to each person and then re-print the list replacing the last person on the list with your name and address.
Well, I’ve personally never met anyone who has become rich by doing this. In fact, it’s one of the few, ahem….opportunities out there that most everyone knows is a complete waste of time. I mean I get 8 or 10 emails every day from people who are still looking for the ever-elusive “typing job”, but I do not hear from people who want to know if those chain letters are legitimate. They know they’re not.
So, it’s absolutely amazing to me that the latest thing out there is basically a chain letter on steroids (and online). I’m not going to post the website address here, but they have a video of a guy opening up his fedex package to show that someone sent him a “gift” of $3,500 and telling me that I too can have these packages delivered to me every day!
There’s also a video explaining how the whole system works. You just have to convince one sucker, I mean person, to join up. When that guys signs up, he then has to find another person who wants to get rich by doing nothing. When I say signs up, what I mean is the person agrees to give you, a total stranger, a gift of $3,500. That first $3,500 goes to whoever is above you. But when the guy you signed up gets someone else to send $3,500 to a total stranger, that money goes to you. You get the idea.
Now, I have to be honest. Once, when I was young, I responded to one of those chain letters. I know, I know. It was foolish. Anyway, as you may have guessed I never received a single dime. I was pissed too, because I was working a minimum wage job and $5 bought a lot of macaroni and cheese back then.
So, if we can’t even get people to part with $5 to have their mailbox explode with 5 dollar bills, what on earth makes anyone think that folks are going to be willing to fork out $3,500 (in cash by the way), sign a paper saying that it’s a gift with no strings and pay to have it sent to some random person by overnight courier?
Beyond the fact that this is perhaps legal but certainly unethical, would you ever be able to tell people with any measure of pride how you make a living?
John: “What do you do Sharon?”
Sharon: “I try to convince total strangers to send me money as a gift.”
John: “Wow. Your parents must be so proud. How’s that working out for you?”
Sharon: “Well, so far not good. But I’m confident that there are enough stupid lazy people out there and that eventually I’ll find one of them.”
There is no product being produced or sold. There is no service being performed to benefit anyone. I mean, how is this any different from the people who stand on street corners begging? It isn’t.
