Hi All,
I recieved an interesting letter in the mail yesterday and was curious if others had also seen this one. It is basically as follows:
A letter from a guy called David Rhodes from Perth with a 5 cent piece stickied to the top. Usual sort of claim that they can turn $218 into $78,180 in 60 days. The idea follows a pyramid style mentality of compounding numbers. The letter has 5 names on a list numbered 1 to 5. The recipient of the letter must do the following. Send a $10 gift to the number 1 person on the list. The names marked 2,3,4 and 5 get moved to 1,2,3 and 4 with your name going in then at 5. You then send the original letter with your new list to 200 people from the phone book (notes does not work if from a mailing list) with a 5 cent piece stuck to each of those letters.
From there, the new recipients do exactly the same thing with your name moving up the list through the iterations. They work out the $78,180 by saying that if 3% of people answer the letter and do likewise, and those 3% do likewise and so on, that will be the return. The cost of $218 comes from $10 for the gift, $10 from the 5 cent pieces, stamps, envelopes and photocopying costs.
I always toss these things, but have to admit it was a nicely thought out little scheme. Only drawback obviously is if the 3% is overinflated which I would think it is. At 1% it works out to be $320.
Has anyone else recieved this one and if so, what do you think. I actually retrieved it from the bin so I guess that reflects my thoughts!
cheers
Jan
retrieved it from the binPut it back there….
On the more broader issues of pyramid selling, this might be a useful link..
No worries guys, it has already been put back there. Just curious as I often get the Nigerian scams via email, however this was a first for me.
Pocket the 5cents and hope that another couple of thousand gulible people send you a similar letter with 5cents attached… Then take your $100 and treat yourself to a restaurant meal… LOL
“Making mistakes is just another another tool for learning.”
i RECEIVED IT A FEW MONTHS AGO,AND FILED IT IN THE BIN.iT WAS IN THE NEWS AND THE PAPERS…PEOPLE WHO PARTICIPATED IN IT,NOT JUST THE INSTIGATORS,WERE BEING PROSECUTED.iT IS ILLEGAL!
Bugger,just looked at the caps lock….
Tools,
Funny, it said in his letter that “this is perfectly legal”
A few years ago there was a big discussion over a guy who wanted to raise $15,000 (for a holiday if memory serves correctly). He put an add in the paper saying that he was looking for 15,000 people to lend him $1 each – and he got it!!!
I can’t remember the eventual outcome though, but I haven’t heard of anyone doing it since.Pyramid schemes are a very interesting way to test people.
Tell someone a perfectly legitimate business and if the business proposal includes recruiting others, the candidate in stead of telling you honestly that he feels inadequate to do so, he will turn and accuse you of running a “Pyramid scheme” possibly ignoring completely what a pyramid scheme is. But why do people react that way? Is it because of their high moral standards?
The following, I am told by a reliable source, is a true experiment attempted in a business seminar that seems to confirm that such high moral standards are not all that common.
When the usual smart person asked if the business proposal is a pyramid scheme the speaker in stead of going into lengthy explanations, simply said YES, and you can make a lot of money if you join right from the start!!
The number of people joining was double the usual that day.The only reason pyramid schemes exist still today is because they work, and because some do make money, the numbers are very clear.
Yet they are also illegal and the reason for it is also very simple, the finite nature of the target population makes it unfair for the late comer who will end up with small or no profit because there will be not enough candidates to join since all the possible candidates are already in the scheme. In other words, Pyramid Schemes are a guaranteed way to make money for the initiators and the early birds but a secure way to lose money for the masses that arrive late. Far from relating to skill it is in direct relation to time and therefore offering a pyramid scheme entrance half way through the process is a safe way to take someone’s money without any chance of success.
Yet people join this rip offs time and time again, not because they do not know what it is, but because they just hope that thy got in at the beginning of the run.
May God prosper you always.[biggrin]
Marc
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