Subject: [PINT] Parents of 15-year-old find $71,000 cash hidden in his closet

From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 15:59:02

Parents of 15-year-old find $71,000 cash hidden in his closet

Does this headline look familiar?  Of course it does.  You most 
likely have just seen this story recently featured on a major 
nightly news program (USA). 

His mother was cleaning and putting laundry away when she came 
across a large brown paper bag that was suspiciously buried 
beneath some clothes and a skateboard in the back of her 
15-year-old son's closet.  Nothing could have prepared her for the 
shock she got when she opened the bag and found it was full of 
cash.  Five dollar bills, twenties, fifties and hundreds- all 
neatly rubber-banded in labeled piles.  "My first thought was that 
he had robbed a bank", says the 41-year-old woman, "There was over 
$71,000 dollars in that bag- that's more than my husband earns in 
a year".

The woman immediately called her husband at the car-dealership 
where he worked to tell him what she'd discovered.  He came home 
right away and they drove together to the boy's school and picked 
him up.  Little did they suspect that where the money came from 
was more shocking than actually finding it in the closet.

As it turns out, the boy had been sending out via E-mail on the 
Internet a type of 'chain-letter' to E-mail addresses that he 
obtained off of the Internet.  Everyday after school for the past 
2 months, he had been doing this right on his computer in his 
bedroom.  

"I just got the E-mail one day and I figured what the heck, I put 
my name on it like the instructions said and I started sending it 
out", says the clever 15-year-old. 

The E-mail letter listed 3 addresses and contained instructions to 
send one $5 dollar bill to the person at the top of the list, then 
delete that address and move the other 2 addresses up, and finally 
to add your name to the bottom of the list.  The letter goes on to 
state that you would receive several thousand dollars in five 
dollar bills within 2 weeks if you sent out the letter with your 
name at the bottom of the 3-address list "I get junk E-mail all 
the time, and I really didn't think it was gonna work", the boy 
continues.

Within the first few days of sending out the E-mail, the Post 
Office Box that his parents had gotten him for his video-game 
magazine subscriptions began to fill up with not magazines, but 
envelopes containing $5 dollar bills.  "about a week later I rode 
[my bike] down to the post office and my box had 1 magazine and 
about 300 envelopes stuffed in it.  There was also a yellow slip 
that said I had to go up to the [post office] counter- I thought I 
was in trouble or something (laughs)". He goes on, "I went up to 
the counter and they had a whole box of more mail for me.  I had 
to ride back home and empty out my backpack 'cause I couldn't 
carry it all".

Over the next few weeks, the boy continued sending out the E-mail. 
 "The money just kept coming in and I just kept sorting it and 
stashing it in the closet, I barely had time for my homework". He 
had also been riding his bike to several of the area's banks and 
exchanging the $5 bills for twenties, fifties and hundreds.  "I 
didn't want the banks to get suspicious so I kept riding to 
different banks with like five thousand at a time in my backpack. 
 I would usually tell the lady at the bank counter that my dad had 
sent me in [to exchange the money] and he was outside waiting for 
me.  One time the lady gave me a really strange look and told me 
that she wouldn't be able to do it for me and my dad would have to 
come in and do it, but I just rode to the next bank down the 
street (laughs)."

Surprisingly, the boy didn't have any reason to be afraid.  The 
reporting news team examined and investigated the so-called 
'chain-letter' the boy was sending out and found that it wasn't a 
chain-letter at all.  In fact, it was completely legal according 
to US Postal and Lottery Laws, Title 18, Section 1302 and 1341, or 
Title 18, Section 3005 in the US code, also in the code of federal 
regulations, Volume 16, Sections 255 and 436, which state a 
product or service must be exchanged for money received.

Every five dollar bill that he received contained a little note 
that read, "Please add me to your mailing list".  This simple note 
made the letter legal because he was exchanging a service (adding 
the purchasers name to his mailing list) for a five dollar fee.

Here is the letter that the 15-year-old was sending out by E-mail, 
you can do the exact same thing he was doing, simply by following 
the instructions in this letter-
--------------------------------------------

Here are instructions on how to make $10,000 US cash in the next 2 
weeks:

There are 3 addresses listed below.

Send the person at the top of the list a $5 bill wrapped in 2 
pieces of paper (to securely hide it), along with a note that 
says: "Please add me to your mailing list".

Then delete that name, move the other 2 up and put your name at 
the bottom. 

Now start sending this ENTIRE E-mail back out to people.  When 20 
people receive it, those 20 people will move your name up to the 
middle position and they will each send out 20. That totals 400 
people that will receive this letter with your name in the middle. 
 Then, those 400 people will move your name up to the top and they 
will each send out 20 E-mails.  That totals 8,000 people that will 
receive this E-mail with your name at the top and they will each 
send you a $5 bill.  

8,000 people each sending you a $5 bill = $40,000 cash.  That's if 
everyone responds to this E-mail, but not everyone will, so you 
can expect more realistically to receive about $10,000 cash $5 
bills in your mailbox.  

This will work for anyone, anywhere in the world in any country, 
but send only a US CASH $5 bill.

The more E-mails you send out, the more cash you will receive.  If 
each person sends out 100 E-mails, there will be 1,000,000 people 
that receive this letter when your name reaches the top. If only 
1% of those people respond, you will still get $50,000 cash.

Here is the list:  
---------------------------------------------------------- 
1) K. Williams
   PO Box 16077
   Surfside Beach, SC 29587

2) Core Audio
   PO Box 128
   Shallotte, NC 28459

3) Grafx Designs
   PO Box 2149
   Rincon, GA 31326-2149
---------------------------------------------------------- 

THERE'S NOTHING MORE TO DO. When your name reaches the top in a
few days, you will start receiving $5 bills from other people just 
like yourself, who are willing to invest a $5 bill to receive 
$10,000 cash.

If you don't try it- you will never know.

 

 

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