Users should beware of any compelling email messages which ask them to forward the message on to other users. That is the main characteristic of an email "chain letter" in which the user is being drawn into a fraudulent scheme. The actual purpose of chain email is to propagate the widespread dissemination of the message or even, in some cases, to make money from the recipients. For information about typical chain email characteristics, why it's better NOT to pass them on, and reasons why people create them, see HOAXBUSTERS, "A public service of the CIAC Team and the U.S. Department of Energy".
Not only is sending "chain letters" by email a violation of CalMail policy and the UC Email Policy "Interference" provision, participation in such schemes is illegal if they request money or other items of value and promise a substantial return to the participants.
Using the U.S. mail to send money for such schemes may violate Title 18, United States Code, Section 1302, the Postal Lottery Statute. See the United States Postal Inspection Service Web site for useful "chain letters" information, including "high-tech chain letters [which] may be disseminated over the Internet, or may require the copying and mailing of computer disks rather than paper".
Chain email involving monetary payments (of even a nominal amount) also may violate California Penal Code Section 327, which states that:
Every person who contrives, prepares, sets up, proposes, or operates any endless chain is guilty of a public offense, and is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year or in state prison for 16 months, two, or three years.
As used in this section, an "endless chain" means any scheme for the disposal or distribution of property whereby a participant pays a valuable consideration for the chance to receive compensation for introducing one or more additional persons into participation in the scheme or for the chance to receive compensation when a person introduced by the participant introduces a new participant.
 |
Related resources:
- Chain email, hoaxes, and scams--Oh my!
- Online Hoaxes
- Netiquette and Ethics
- Campus IT policies
- Responding to Inappropriate Use of Computing and Network Resources
|