Money chain letter. "As seen
on Oprah" Five pages of text. Six names, $1 to each
name. Copy quota 200. US, 2009. Comments by DWV.
Page 1:
"As seen on Oprah" pitch (below)
Page 2:
"Retired attorney" statement
Page 3: "Dick
Hollman" testimonial & instructions
Page 4:
Participants list, computations, suggestions
Page 5:
Testimonials
Analysis
by Daniel W. VanArsdale
[Page 1]
AS SEEN ON OPRAH AND 20/20
MAKE $250,000 IN WEEKS
***Oprah Winfrey and ABC's investigation team 20/20 also
prove it can be done***
***Proven by various, highly-respected U.S. TV and Radio
programs
as being 100%
legal, feasible and true***
IF A 15 YEAR OLD BOY CAN MAKE $71,000 IN JUST 5 WEEKS
AND
OTHERS $250,000 IN A FEW WEEKS, SO CAN YOU!!!
THIS REALLY CAN MAKE YOU EASY MONEY!! IT WORKS!! BUT YOU HAVE
TO FOLLOW THE LETTER FOR IT TO WORK!! THIS IS NOT A PYRAMID
SCAM.....
This is people
helping people
I came
across an article similar to this that said you could make
thousands of
dollars within weeks with an initial investment of only $6.00.
The truth
is you can expect to spend the following:
$6.00 paid to the names on page 4.
$45.00 for 200 peel and stick addressed
mailing labels.
$11.00 for envelopes
$53.00 for 200 sets of copied letters
$84.00 for postage.
Your estimated total investment of $199.00
If after
reading all of the pages you don't think this is worth
$199.00, a
small investment for a very large return, then you must be
happy with your
life.
Please Read
All of the Pages, Before Making Your Decision.
**********Here's
how
[Page 2]
PLEASE
TAKE TIME TO READ...THANK YOU
Hello,
I HAVE RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING
INFORMATION AND IF YOU WILL TAKE TIME TO
READ IT, I BELIEVE IT WILL BE BENEFICIAL TO YOU!!!
Dear Friend,
Greetings! I am a retired attorney. Approximately two
years ago a man came to me with
a letter similar to this one. He asked me to verify the fact
this letter was legal. I told him
I would review it and get back to him. When I first read the
letter a week and a half
later, we met in my office to discuss the issue. I told him
the letter he had originally
brought me was not 100% legal and I advised him to make a
small change to the letter
so it would be.
I was still curious about the letter, so he explained how the
letter works. I thought it was
a long shot and decided against participation. However, before
my client left I asked him
to keep me updated as to his results. About two months later,
he called to tell me he
had received over $800,000 in cash. I did not believe
him; he suggested I try this idea to
find out for myself. I thought about it for a couple of days
and decided I did not have
anything to lose so I asked him for a copy of the letter. I
followed the instructions
exactly, mailed out 200 copies and sure enough the money
started arriving! It came
slowly at first but after three weeks, I was getting more and
more mail than I could open
in a day. After about three months the money stopped coming
in. I kept a precise record
of my earnings and at the end it totaled $958,493!
I was earning a good living as an attorney. However, as
everyone in the legal profession
will tell you, there is a lot of stress that comes with the
job. I told myself if things worked
out, I would retire and play golf. I decided to try the
letter again, but this time I sent out
500 letters. Well, three months later my income was
$2,344,178!!! I just couldn't
believe it. I met with my old friend for lunch to find out how
it worked. He told me there
are quite a number of similar letters like this going around.
What makes the difference
is there are six names on my list, not five like many others.
That fact alone resulted in
many more returns. The other fact is that the whole program is
very legitimate. No one
wants to participate in something illegal.
I'll assume by now you are curious to know what little change
I told him to make. Well, if
you sent a letter like this one out, to be legal you must
actually be selling something, if
you expect to receive a dollar. I told him that anyone sending
you a dollar must expect to
receive something in return. So, when you send a dollar each
person on the list, you
must include a slip of paper with the words "Please put my
name on your mailing list."
This is the key to the program. FOLLOW THE SIMPLE RULES ON
PAGE 3 EXACTLY AND
IN LESS THAN THREE MONTHS YOU SHOULD RECEIVE OVER $800,000.
Be honest and this will work for everyone. Thank you!
[Page 3]
Dear Friend,
My name is Dick
Hollman. In October 2003 my car was stolen, and my
apartment was
broken into. Bill
collectors were hounding me like you wouldn't believe. I was
laid off and
my unemployment insurance ran
out. In the following day's mail I received a letter
telling
me how I could make over $800,000 any time I wanted to! Of
course I was skeptical, but
I was so desperate and had nothing to lose, I gave it a
try. In January 2004 my family and
I went on a ten-day cruise! In February I bought a new Cadillac
with cash. Today, I am
currently building a second home in Virginia, and I will never
have to work again. This
program works perfectly. I have never failed to make $800,000 on
each mailing. This is a
great business opportunity, a perfectly legal money making
program. It does not require
you to sell anything or come in contact with anyone. Best of
all, the only time you leave
your home is to mail the letters and that's easy! I'm sure
you could use $800,000 in the
next 20 to 90 days. Please study this letter carefully.
Rules
THIS IS NOT A CHAIN LETTER!!!
This is a perfectly
legal money making opportunity. Please be sure to follow the
instructions
exactly as they are written.
°
Immediately send $1.00 to each of the six names listed below
and request your name
be added to the mailing list. *This is the step that
makes the program legal.*
° Remove
the name in the number 1 position and move each of the names
up one
place (#2 becomes#1, #3 becomes #2, etc.)
Put your name in the sixth position (an
easy way to do this is to retype the list
with your name last, tape it in the proper
position and photocopy).
° After
completing the above instructions, photocopy or print 200
copies of the five
page letter. Purchase a mailing list of names
from DATA LINE ONE. Data Line One is a
member of the Better Business Bureau and they
only provide names of opportunity
seekers like you. They sell a list of 200 names
for only $45.00, they also ship next day
C.O.D. The best part is the names come on
self-adhesive labels; you just peel and
stick right to your envelop. Just call
1-800-497-**** and they will have them delivered
to you within five days. The company accepts
VISA, MASTER CARD, DEBIT
CARD, and CHECK OR C.O.D. to make it more
convenient for you to get started. You
can also visit www.d**********.com.
° While
waiting for the mailing list to arrive, place each of your
200 copies (or more if
you want to make the bigger bucks) into
business size envelopes and seal them. Go
to the post office and purchase 200 of their
.42 cent stamps and place them on your
envelopes (the post office sells rolls of 100
self adhesive stamps for your
convenience).
° Once
the list arrives, immediately place an address label on each
envelope and drop
them into the mailbox. Within 20 to 90 days you
should receive over $800,000 in
cash! Now here is the interesting part; the
first time I participated in this program I
kept an accurate count of my letters and my
response rate was 9.5% and the second
time it ws 11%. This system was made for the
purpose of quickly accumulating
capital. Honestly, when you send 200 copies of
this letter and each responsible
person sends out their 200 copies, your fortune
multiplies rapidly. Very few people
need to respond for this to work. Remember this
is legal. (Refer to Title 18 sections
1302 & 1342 of the U.S. postal and lottery
laws on the internet.)
[Page 4]
1. Cole
************************* Bismark, ND 58504
2. Hollie
************************ West Mifflin, PA 15122
3. Brandon
********************** Henderson, NV 89014
4. Rosevelt
********************** Minneapolis, MN 55408
5. Susan
************************ St. Louis Park, MN 55416
6. Deborah
********************** Long Grove, IL 60047
As a conservative rate of
response, assume for example you get a 7% return rate.
(my first attempt was about
9.5%, and my second was 11%)
When you send out 200 letters,
15 people will send
you $1.00 = $15.00
Those 15 people send out 200
letters. 210 people send you 1.00 = $210.00
Those 225 people send out 200 letters. 3,150
people send you 1.00 = $3150.00
Those 3,375 people send out 200 letters. 47,250
people send you 1.00 = $47,250.00
Those 50,625 send out 200 letters. 708,750
people send you 1.00 = $708,750.00
Total:
$759,375.00 AND THAT'S ONLY A 7%
RETURN RATE!!!!!
AT THIS POINT YOUR NAME IS
DROPPED FROM THE LIST, BUT YOU
HAVE RECEIVED $759,375.00!!
It works every time. On the
above example, you started with 200 at 7% return rate.
I GUARANTEE THIS MATH IS
CORRECT. YOU CAN CHECK IT OUT
YOURSELF! WITH THIS KIND OF
RESPONSE, YOU'VE GOT TO TRY IT!
Here are a few tips I have
learned: (merely suggestions)
1. After receiving your mailing
list, mail the letters as soon as possible while the list
is
still fresh.
2. When you handle a lot of
letters, an electronic opener is great!
3. File your response
alphabetically to track your earnings.
4. STAY COOL...keep your job
until you have time to plan your next step.
5. Sow 10% of your new income
to charitable contributions (**TITHING**) you
reap what
you sow.
6. Put 20% into savings; set
aside 10% for your net project or mailing list, 10% for
bills, 30% for
taxes, and 20% to play with. Not Enough??? Mail! Mail!
Mail!
7. Note: when you send out
these letters, you are in the mail order business. People
are sending
you $1.00 to be put on our [sic]
mailing list. This is a legal and
helpful
service. See
Title 10, Sections 1302 & 1342 of the U.S. Postal and
Lottery Laws.
8. If you have tried this
system before and it has failed, it was probably because you
mailed them
to your friends...NO KIDDING!!! This time, get the mailing
list
labels and
SHARE THEM WITH YOUR FRIENDS AFTER YOU HAVE
PROVED THIS
WORKS!!!!
[Page
5]
TESTIMONIALS
I AM
A BELIEVER AND AM TOTALLY CONVINCED IT WORKS.
"I am naturally skeptical and I have received at
least 35 letters similar to this one
in a six month period. There was however, something about this
one that I liked.
It takes less investment than some others do, and all the
participants receive
money, not just the top one. Anyway, I sent out 250 letters
and hoped for the
best. Nothing happened for 11 days but on the 12th day I
received $90.00. Over
the next 4-1/2 months, I received over $800,000 cash in the
mail. I am doing it
now with 1,000 letters". . . . .Jay Masterson
I wanted to try a similar program in which it costs $5.00 for
5 names and much
more expenses, but at the time I didn't have the money to
invest. The first time I
sent this letter, I got my expenses back in one week! After a
short time, I got well
over $800,000 and now I am trying it again! Good luck to you
all, it really
works!" . . . . . .Sandra Frisch
"When I got this letter I said
yeah sure, and pitched it. Then later I remembered
hearing that skepticism breed's failure, while belief leads to
success. So I
rescued the letter, ordered a fresh mailing list and sent them
out. Thank heaven I
did! In a few months I paid off all my debts, cut up my credit
cards, now I can pay
for everything is cash and it feels great! I love buying what
I need without paying
interest". . . . . Roland Siegerot
"We will invest in lotteries, enter sweepstakes, clip coupons,
etc. We need to invest in one another. Maybe you are not in
need
of money - then do it for someone else. For a neighbor, a
college
student, endowment fund, etc.
LETS
HELP EACH OTHER TO FULFILL OUR DREAMS AND FUTURES
Photocopies of word processor
originals - five pages. Mailed to a town in New Hampshire in
Feb., 2009. No return address, postmark illegible. Lines and
general format preserved in the above transcription. Provided
by K. Martindale. Entered by DWV, 3/10/2009.
Paper Chain Letter Archive file name: me2009-02_oprah_s1x6q200_5pp
(htm extension)
The Paper Chain Letter Archive -
content Chain Letter Evolution.
Daniel W. VanArsdale
Analysis
of the "As seen on Oprah" chain letter.
I will not consider here whether this chain letter
was ever seen on Oprah, whether it is legal or not, or whether
you can trust strangers to send you a dollar even if they send
out copies themselves. Instead I will compare it to other such
creations in years past and consider what its own claims of
success imply.
This "Oprah" chain letter is very similar to a letter from
2005 [see me2005-08_retired_s6usdn6q200]
except that:
1. A new cover page has been added, which starts: "As seen on
Oprah."
2. Parts of the 2005 letter have been reorganized and
presented with very few internal changes. Thus the "Retired
attorney's statement" [page 2], the "Dick Hollman" testimonial
[top of page 3], the rules [bottom of page 3] , the
suggestions [bottom of page 4] and the concluding testimonials
[page 5] are little changed from corresponding parts of the
2005 letter. To see this, compare the "Roland Siegerot"
testimonial here to the "R.
Siergerot" testimonial on the 2005 letter, here.
3. Only one supplier of a mailing list is recommended in this
letter, whereas in the 2005 letter three suppliers were
recommended.
There can be no reasonable doubt that the above "Dick
Hollman" testimonial is a fictional rewrite of an earlier
"Dave Rhodes" testimonial (also fictional). An early
example of this Dave (or David) Rhodes testimonial appears in
a 1986 money chain letter (Rhodes). Consider
that these letters claim Rhodes and Hollman BOTH:
(1) were laid off and their unemployment insurance had run out
(2) used these exact words to describe their plight: "The bill
collectors were hounding me like you wouldn't believe"
(3) lost cars; Rhodes to repossession (in 1983), Hollman
to both repossession (in 1983, see 2005) and
theft in 2003,
(4) made fortunes with a chain letter
(5) went on 10-day cruises with their family
(6) bought a Cadillac
(7) built a second home in Virginia.
Finally, consider the claim in this "Oprah" chain letter that
an unnamed attorney made $968,493 and $2,344,178 using the
letter. That requires a total of 3,111,671 letters received,
each containing one dollar. An empty envelope and a dollar
bill weigh about .15 ounce. Some arithmetic then reveals that
this attorney would have to have received about 14.5 tons of
mail. If it takes just 10 seconds to remove the bill from an
envelope, it would take one person working without a break
about a year just to remove the bills. And if each of these
3,111,671 participants themselves sent out 200 letters as
instructed (which we should expect they would since they have
sent back a dollar), a total of 622,334,200 letters must have
been mailed. That makes two for every man, woman and child in
the United States. I suppose this could happen (something like
this did happen in 1935). But if so, I do not think one should
expect to make any more money with the same letter.
Daniel W. VanArsdale, March 10, 2009
The Origin
of Money Chain Letters - early
history of the first money chain letter, the 1935 Send-a-Dime
letter.
The Paper Chain Letter
Archive - content Chain Letter Evolution - a history
of paper chain letters.
Eat No Dynamite - a collection of
college graffiti, 1979-80.
Index page - Daniel W.
VanArsdale
email Daniel W. VanArsdale
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