Examples of Chain Letters

Note:

All examples of folklore have not been altered except for html coding. Any misspellings or grammatical errors are part of the products themselves.

Chain letter example 1:

LITTLE JESSICA STROM IS SEVEN YEARS OLD AND IS SUFFERING FROM AN ACUTE AND VERY RARE CASE OF CEREBRAL CARCINOMA. THIS CONDITION CAUSES SEVERE MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMORS AND IS A TERMINAL ILLNESS. THE DOCTORS HAVE GIVEN HER SIX MONTHS TO LIVE.AS PART OF HER DYING WISH, SHE WANTED TO START A CHAIN LETTER TO INFORM PEOPLE OF THIS CONDITION AND TO SEND PEOPLE THE MESSAGE TO LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST AND ENJOY EVERY MOMENT, A CHANCE THAT SHE WILL NEVER HAVE. FURTHERMORE, THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY AND SEVERAL CORPORATE SPONSORS HAVE AGREED TO DONATE THREE CENTS TOWARD CONTINUING CANCER RESEARCH FOR EVERY NEW PERSON THAT GETS FORWARDED THIS MESSAGE. PLEASE GIVE JESSICA AND ALL CANCER VICTIMS A CHANCE.

An anti-chain letter and its chain letter:

******VIRUS ALERT****** ******VIRUS ALERT****** ******VIRUS ALERT ******

There is NEW VIRUS rapidly affecting computers on the internet. This new virus is insidious, in that it transmitted as a USENET message. Usenet is the "news group" area on the internet that users can openly discuss and exchange information on a wide variety of topics.

What makes this virus DOUBLY DANGEROUS, is that it is disguised as a common chain letter. Chain letters have been passed across usenet almost since it's beginning. Lately, a common chain letter subject is MAKE MONEY FAST.

The Make Money Fast (MMF) chain is read by thousands of people daily. It is also known as: "Easy Cash", "Make Cash Fast", "Turn 5$ into $50,000" and many others. They are all basically the same scheme, in which the reader send $1 to each of the 5 people at the bottom of the list, then moves his name onto the list.

The MMF Virus, as it has been doubed, rides along on these chain letters as a "hidden binary attachment". Since most news reader programs (computer programs used to read USENET messages) will automatically decode and store binary attachments, there is NO SAFE WAY to protect yourself from infection.

The virus attackes your system the next time you run your news reader. Though the virus is transmitted during a normal usenet session, your NEXT usenet session will probably be your last for a while. As a hidden attachment, it is automatically activated with your news reader, and very quickly destroys your partition table. Generally, this is not even noticed until the next time you try to run ANY program.

The next thing the virus does is to place your micro processor into an nth-complexity infinate binary loop, quickly destroying it. This will appear at first as a normal "lock-up" but will quickley wipe out the delicate circuitry in your system.

At this point, your ONLY hope is to NOT DOWNLOAD ANY MESSAGES that have a subject similar to above. Please, FORWARD this message to ANYONE you know that reads usenet news.

Thank you,
News.Admin.Net-Abusers

The above warning appears to be attempting to kill the following posting with the Subject: Money for Money in the newsgroup alt.bbs.ads that described how to start (despite its claims at legality) an illegal pyramid scheme on the Internet.

Do you want to make money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JUST TRY
Print this message
All you need are:
6 stamps
6 US$ 1 banknote

YOU HAVE NOTHINGS TO LOOSE

FIRST:
Take 6 paper sheet and write down this message on each:
PLEASE ADD ME TO YOUR MAILING LIST
US$ 1 DOLLAR PROCESSING FEE ENCLOSED

than take US$ 1 banknote and insert one inside each paper sheet you have prepared, insert all 6 sheet+US$1 in 6 envelop( from the envelop you don't have to see the banknote).
Now you have 6 envelop closed with your name, address and possibly your e-mail on.
You are creating a NEW SERVICE.
It is absolutely LEGAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Now mail them to those address:
#1 .....
#2 .......
#3 ........
#4 ......
#5 .......
#6.......
SECOND:
Cancel the address #1 from the list, shift the other five up and insert your at the bottom.
You are entering this chain of MONEY
Now change what you may on this message and send it to the over 50.000!!!!! newsgroup all over the net.
THAT'S ALL
You will receive average 15$ for each time someone else would send your address

#6                         15$
#5                       225$
#4                    3.375$
#3                  50.625$
#2                759.375$
#1            11.390.625$
____________________
TOTAL     12.204.240$

INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TRY IT, if it does'nt work so well you will take for sure a coffe for free. This message is arround the world if you don't take this train someone will and he will earn your MONEY.

For the urban myth examples click here.
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