Gullible People & Spam/Chain Mail

c - 13

I just receved the following email from a relation of mine

Hi, my name is Amy Bruce.
I am 7 years old, and I have severe lung cancer ..
I also have a large tumor in my brain, from
repeated beatings. Doctors say I will die soon if!
this isn't fixed, and my family can't pay the
bills.
The Make A Wish Foundation, has agreed to donate 7
cents for every time this message is sent on.


For those of you who send this along, I thank you
so much, but for those who don't send it, what
goes around comes around. Have a Heart, please
send this.

Please, if you are a kind person, send this on.
PLEASE HIT FORWARD BUTTON NOT REPLY BUTTON.

YOUR'S FAITHFULLY,

AMY BRUCE
##Photo Attached

Now if the bad grammar and odd phraseology was not enough to make a person think twice about sending it on, putting the words "Amy Bruce" into google returns a host of sites proving the mails claims to be false.

So, this got me to thinking what is it in a person that makes us (some of us) want to forward these mails ?
-- Do people genuinely believe the content ?
-- Are people worried about the "what goes around comes around" line ?
-- Are people just stupid ?

I really cannot understand it myself and was just wondering what others opinions on this were ?

petes

c - 13 wrote:

-- Are people just stupid ?

This one.

spurious

from repeated beatings

I'm sorry, I am a bad person and laughed at that bit.

I guess people are stupid, though those particular ones at least play on their 'I want to help' feelings, rather than the 'I want a mickey the size of a salami' or 'I want to make money by helping that poor widow woman move her money' feelings.

petes

spurious wrote:

from repeated beatings

I'm sorry, I am a bad person and laughed at that bit.

I guess people are stupid, though those particular ones at least play on their 'I want to help' feelings, rather than the 'I want a mickey the size of a salami' or 'I want to make money by helping that poor widow woman move her money' feelings.

She was probably repeatedly beaten for sending crappy chain mail.

c - 13

spurious wrote:

from repeated beatings

When I read that one I just thought to myself how the hell people can read that and still send the f**king things on, I mean at least in some of the other chain mails they said it was second hand smoke caused it :rolleyes:

Royale with Cheese

I don't get these chain mails. I used to get loads, mainly from my female friends but I'm guessing they've grown up by this stage. Or maybe they stopped because I'd usually send a rather violent email back to tell them to stop sending me this shite. I'm not gonna have bad sex for 10 years if I don't pass this piece of shit on. The little girl with a brain tumour isn't going to get 10 cent out of this. No my hotmail account isn't going to be deactivated if I don't forward this. Morons.

But can anybody explain what the original writer of this shit gets out of it? I just don't understand. Why would you start one of these shitty things?

kmick

From talking to people who send these things on they truly believe them. However from the abuse I send them when i get them they have stopped sending them to me. So the answer is every time they send one to you send them an email back pointing out they are an idiot,

c - 13

Royale with Cheese wrote:

But can anybody explain what the original writer of this shit gets out of it? I just don't understand. Why would you start one of these shitty things?

Some writers say forward the letter to all your contacts and address XX@XX.XX, the address being the originators address. The originator probably gets some sort of a kick out of seeing how many people send their crap on.

nesf

I don't know, I used to delight in forwarding them onto certain people who'd get all worked up about them and take them very seriously.

c - 13

kmick wrote:

From talking to people who send these things on they truly believe them. However from the abuse I send them when i get them they have stopped sending them to me. So the answer is every time they send one to you send them an email back pointing out they are an idiot,

I try to do that alright, I usually send back a link proving the email as a fake. Not that they pay any attention to my mails. I think in future for repeat forwarding offences I may have to send them back a pic of tubgirl or something.

Crucifix

For a while, if it said "Send it on X times" I would send it back to whoever sent it to me X times.

Gordon

Crucifix wrote:

For a while, if it said "Send it on X times" I would send it back to whoever sent it to me X times.

Thats what I usually do. And if it's extremely spammy I'll multiply the amount by its spam factor amount.

Archeron

c - 13 wrote:

Some writers say forward the letter to all your contacts and address XX@XX.XX, the address being the originators address. The originator probably gets some sort of a kick out of seeing how many people send their crap on.

Seen one of these a few years ago saying you;d get a free mobile phone if you did this and cc'd it to some girl in Nokia. She replied to the guy that sent it, and everyone HE had sent it to asking if he was really that stupid to think that they would give a free mobile to everyone who sent an email, she questioned his intelligence, his general life cop on and his ability to function as a human. That was one of the funniest things I've seen.

Nevyn

I hate them.
They are the biggest load of bollix.
I have systematicaly beaten the desire out of those I know who would be weak willed enough to send me that shíte.

D-Generate

They are proof that females are more compassionate than males because whenever I get one it is ineveitabley from a girl.
Its either proof of that or proof that women are dumber than guys. Got to pick one!

NutJob

I got called an "insensitive bas**tard" for telling someone that these were chain mail and were completely untrue and it was a horrible chain mail two. Obviously im less believable then a chain mail.

So in response to forwards i now ask people to only send me on genuinely funny forwards.

BoozyBabe

Funny you should mention this.

This exact email was doing the rounds at work a few days ago, with everyone sending it to each other God knows how many times!!!

I had to send them an email telling them it was all nonsense.

I honestly believe they think they're for real & that some how, the Make a Wish foundation can track the fact that they've forwarded the email on.
They think they're doing good & it doesn't cost them anything.

It's amazing just how little the average punter knows about all things computer related.

Slow Motion

c - 13 wrote:

I try to do that alright, I usually send back a link proving the email as a fake.

Ditto, usually a link to snopes.com and the pointing out that they are an idiot thing

c - 13

BoozyBabe wrote:

It's amazing just how little the average punter knows about all things computer related.

You know what the worst part is, the person who sent it to me is an engineer in a large multinational company here in Ireland, you'd think they'd be a bit net savvy ?

Mossy Monk

c - 13 wrote:

You know what the worst part is, the person who sent it to me is an engineer in a large multinational company here in Ireland, you'd think they'd be a bit net savvy ?

Probably trying to piss you off.

AnonoBoy

Wait.

So I'm *not* going to get a free I-Phone by next week or see a "totally awesome funny cartoon pop up" on my screen?

*sob*

But it seemed so plausible!!

Dudess

I got a chain text message recently - again it purported to be for the benefit of a severely abused child. There was all this graphic detail of what "he" had endured. Whoever made it up is a f*cking sicko.

Donald-Duck

Its nearly always women that send these on as well.

Women and technology :rolleyes:

That was a joke before someone goes crazy

Fighting Irish

gullible?

you mean stupid

muckwarrior

Hello, my name is Billy and I suffer from guilt for not forwarding 50 Billion fυcking chain letters sent to me by people Who actually believe if you send them on, a poor six year old girl in Scotland with a breast on her forehead will be able to Raise enough money to have it removed before her redneck parents sell her to A traveling freak show.

And, do you honestly believe that Bill Gates is going to give you, and Everyone to whom you send "his" email, a $1000? How stupid are we?

Ooooh, looky here! If I scroll down this page and make a wish, I'll get Laid by a model I just happen to run into the next day! What a bunch of bull****.

Maybe the evil chain letter leprechauns will come into my house and sodomize Me in my sleep for not continuing a Chain letter that was started by St Peter in 5AD and brought to this country By midget pilgrim stowaways on the Endeavour. Fυck 'em!!

If you're going to forward something at least send me something mildly Amusing. I've seen all the "send this to 10 of your closest friends, and this poor, wretched excuse for a human being Will somehow receive a nickel from some Omniscient being" forwards about 90 times. I don't fυcking care.

Show a little intelligence and think about what you're actually contributing To by sending out these forwards. Chances are, it's your own unpopularity.

The point being, if you get some chain letter that's threatening to leave You shagless or luckless for the rest of your life, Delete it. If it's funny, send it on. Don't piss people off by making them Feel guilty about a leper in Botswana with No teeth who has been tied to the arse of a dead elephant for 27 years and Whose only salvation is the 5 cents per letter he'll Receive if you forward this email.

Now forward this to everyone you know.
Otherwise, tomorrow morning your underwear will turn carnivorous and will Consume your genitals. Have a nice day.


Billy Connolly


PS: Send me 15 bucks and then fυck off!

the_syco

c - 13 wrote:

Some writers say forward the letter to all your contacts and address XX@XX.XX, the address being the originators address. The originator probably gets some sort of a kick out of seeing how many people send their crap on.

Nope. They probably have a nice collection of email address. Say, for example, they get 5000 emails back? Sure he could sell them for $50 or so.

Flukey

c - 13 wrote:

So, this got me to thinking what is it in a person that makes us (some of us) want to forward these mails ?
-- Do people genuinely believe the content ?
-- Are people worried about the "what goes around comes around" line ?
-- Are people just stupid ?

I really cannot understand it myself and was just wondering what others opinions on this were ?

So instead of forwarding it on, you put it up here where loads of us can see it!

Jesus Wept

BoozyBabe wrote:

Funny you should mention this.

This exact email was doing the rounds at work a few days ago, with everyone sending it to each other God knows how many times!!!

Anytime anyone sends me a mail like this I send it back telling them what a mental midget they are, even if they are a friend (maybe even more so).

'for every 1million times you sent this email bill gates will give us all a free computer'

no he won't you fúcking clown, get a grip.

Never ceases to amaze me how dumb the average person is, especially people who are otherwise of decent intelligence.

c - 13

Flukey wrote:

So instead of forwarding it on, you put it up here where loads of us can see it!

Yeah I know I just felt so sad for the little girl who has a tumor due to the severe beatings, I'm sure they can track how many people read the post and donate accordingly

And the fact that I needed something to use as an example

jor el

Who beats a kid with lung cancer? That's just mean!

It's amazing they way when you point out that this mail is fake to someone they often agree with you, but next week they send you another (slightly different) spammy chain mail in the belief that this one could be real. "But the fake one said Bill Gates was tracking it, this one is being tracked by Walt Disney!"