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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