Arabbit.242
net.misc
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!chico!harpo!npois!rabbit!ark
Wed Feb 17 20:51:54 1982
This is not a chain letter
The chain letter that has been going around the net recently brigs
to mind another one that a fellow got whom I once worked with.
It works like this.  I go to you with a piece of paper and ask
you to buy the paper from me for $25.  Attached to the paper is
a $50 savings bond, already made out in the name of someone else,
neither you nor I.  You read the paper, and it says essentially this:

	The person who is selling you this paper should also
	be giving you a $50 savings bond.  It is made out
	in the name of the person at the top of the following
	list.  This person's address is also on the list.
	Mail the bond to the person.  Now go out and buy
	two $50 bonds in the name of the person whose name
	is second on the list.  Make two copies of this letter,
	removing the first name and adding your own name and
	address at the end.  Attach each copy to one of the bonds
	you have bought.  Now sell your two copies and bonds to
	two other people for $25 each.

	You are now even.  You have spent $50 for two bonds and
	sold two letters for $25 each, so you have recovered
	your original $50.  Furthermore, you have just seen
	that the person who is on the head of the list is going
	to get additional money in the mail, because you have
	just sent him some.  Once you have sold your two letters,
	you are at no further risk.

	When your name gets to the top of the list, you are going
	to start receiving a LOT of savings bonds.  Each person
	on the list is going to have a strong incentive not to
	break the chain, because once he has bought the letter,
	the only way for him to recover his investment is to resell
	it.  You are, of course, invited to contact any of the people
	on the list to see how much they have gotten so far.

	Because this letter is personally carried to each individual
	involved, it does not violate postal regulations that
	prohibit chain letters.  There is nothing wrong with
	sending savings bonds through the mail.

My former colleague bought this letter from someone, resold his
two copies, and indeed received over $1,000 in bonds.


This is the only instance of this type of chain that I have seen.
I wonder if others out there have encountered it.

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