History

A original "Make Money Fast" letter was written within 1988 by a human known as David Rhodes (or even "Dave Rhodes," which he utilized when his Internet title).

Biographic details are non certain, however these are typically said Rhodes was the student at Columbia Union College who wrote a document chain letter entitled "Make Money Fast", & uploaded it to the nearby BBS. A cozenage shortly reached a Internet, in which it was forwarded above electronic mail & Usenet. A chain mail scheme continued, passed from either human to individual, though it wasn't until spamming became a major condition around early-to-mid 1994 that "Make money fast" exploded.

A text of "Make money fast" originally claimed to exist as "perfectly legal." It encouraged readers of the electronic mail to forward the single dollar to a names of population provided in the text, & to add their have title & location to the bottom of the names. Using the theory behind pyramid schemes, the sequent chain of money flow back & forth would purportedly deliver the reward of hundreds to thousands of dollars to the ones participating in the chain, when copies of their chain spread & additional & further population sent 1 dollar to their location.

In point of fact, the idea of a money-forwarding electronic mail letter turned bent exist as vile. Once a popularity of the Internet exploded in the mid-1990s, millions of copies of "Make money fast" were forwarded to unsuspecting Internet users by hundreds to thousands of different souls. It became one of a virtually all plaguy & lasting spams inside being.

Variations in "Make money fast" develop evolved, normally by spammers world health organization vary a subject of their contact to "This really works!," "Try it, it works!," or even "You are a winner!"

MMF parodies

the chain letters watch a bolt predefined format or even even guide sustaining simply minor variations (like claiming to become from either an out attorney or claiming to become selling "reports" sequentially to attempt to produce a scheme come out lawful). Super quickly it exist as insistent, inducing the children to be bait for far flung satire or parody.

Inside a bit of lawsuits, a parodies use been mistaken when existence real (& a original posters mailbombed or reported for net.abuse) by readers world health organization prevent at a words "My name is Dave Rhodes..." (or even Pave Roades) & page through there are no farther.

It so react forgoing noticing a various more revealing parody clues like "Dear Fiend, My name is Slave Rhodes. In September 1988 my karma was reposessed and the dog pound was hounding me like you wouldn't believe. I was sacked for incompetence and drug abuse and my reality check had bounced. The only escape I had from the pressure of idiotic failure was my computer and my modem..."

Of these claiming to become a [http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/98/Mar/makeclubs.html first such chain letter] claims that palaentologists recently deciphered the following, painted in the cave wall on the slopes of Kilimanjaro: "MAKE SPIKY CLUBS FAST!!! Hello, not-tribe-member. Urk name Urk. Many moons ago, Urk in bad way. Urk kicked out of cave by Thag. Thag bigger than Urk, Thag take Urk spiky club, Urka (Urk wo-man). Urk not able kill deer, must eat leaves, berries. Urk flee from wolves. Today, Urk big chief. Urk have best cave, many wives, many spiky clubs. Urk tell how. WHAT DO: make one spiky club and take to cave places below. Add own cave place to bottom of list, take cave place off top. Put new message on walls many caves. Wait. Many clubs soon come! This not crime! Urk ask shaman, gods say okay..."

Virtually all parodies, rather a original, closely watch a equivalent textual structure:

The hard-luck and rags-to-riches story
Near always, these may run by claiming to use at times been unfortunate & to keep around received the big quantity of a bit of item of value.

Originally a poster claimed to develop received money ($50000 based on data from a original Dave Rhodes spam), however parodies typically vary this to obtaining something, anything else for au fond nothing, for example:

[http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~smann/Humor/MMF/monkey.txt Make Monkeys Fast] substitutes silverbacks for greenbacks, claiming " In September 1998 the bank foreclosed on my zoo's primate house and the bill collectors were hounding me like a pack of angry gorillas. The only escape I had from the pressures of failure and the two dozen assorted hungry primates in my house was my computer and my modem. In January 1999 my family and I went on a ten day trip to Madagascar, studying lemurs. I bought a brand new Lincoln Navigator with CASH in February 1999, just to shuttle the chimps around. I am currently building a new home on the west coast of Florida, with a private monkey house..."

[http://www.textfiles.com/food/get.drunk.cheap Make Beer Fast] claims "My name is Dave Rhodes. In September 1988 my refrigerator was empty and I was god-awful thirsty. But the only thing I had to quench my thirst was a half-empty can of Meister Brau... This January 1989 my family and I went on a ten-day drinking spree. I bought a Lincoln Town Car and paid with 1200 cases of Guinness. I am currently building a home on the West Coast of Florida, with a private pool (filled with beer), boat slip, and a beautiful view of the bay from my breakfast room table and patio, all out of emptied beer bottles. I will never have to go to the liquor store again..."

Within of these [http://www.baetzler.de/humor/one_time_offer.html one-time offer] "A genie appeared. He told me he had come to make me an AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, ONE TIME OFFER! All I had to do was piss people off and for every person who started to hate me a nickel would fall out of my arse" (& presumptively, for each human *they* annoy, that you acquire the penny)

More variants offer to [http://www.obscure.org/~vlad/gothic/cloves.html make cloves fast] or [http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/humor/humor_joke5.shtml make LSD fast].

Occasionally besides satirise a rags-to-riches stories by blatant exaggeration, prefer:

[http://www.tmk.com/ftp/humor/rave_dhodes.txt My name is Rave Dhodes] "Until a week ago, I was living on the beach in a shack made entirely from Postum jars, some of which were still half-full of product, which had rotted...the only food I could find for my family to eat was the maggots we picked daily from our open sores--and the winter was coming, which as you may know is a lean time, maggot-wise..."

"Dear Potential Mark, My name is Lenny Luser. Two years ago, the corporation I worked at for the past twelve years down-sized and my position was eliminated. Since the company was doing pretty well at the time, I think that perhaps my dismissal had something to do with me showing up on the job drunk a few too many times. After unproductive job interviews, I figured human resources people just didn't like to hire someone with a purple mohawk, a criminal record, and a Mötley Crüe tattoo on the forehead. "

or even, taken to the paired extreme: [http://www.textfiles.com/magazines/SUPERSTUPID/superstupid-07 My name is Mr. Slambook.] "The only escape I had from the pressure of failure was my computer, my modem, a bottle of vodka and Oprah. I longed to turn my advocation into my vocation. This January 1994 my family and I went on a weekend sojourn to Coney Island. I bought a Yugo for CASH in February 1994. I am currently building a tree house on the West Coast of Queens, with an above ground pool, a dog house, and a beautiful view of the driveway from my breakfast room table and patio. I will never have to work again. Today I am rich! I have earned over $400.00 (F-O-R-E H-U-N-D-R-E-D D-O-L-L-E-R-S) to date and will become stinking rich within 4 or 5 decades... I have NEVER failed to earn $5 or more whenever I wanted. "

or even "I am actually making money off it. The new twisted instructions call for the recipient to send out 200 further letters with an Australian 5c coin attached to the front page. I've received 5 letters (thanks for the 25 cents)."

or even allude to or mock a eventual fate of the original Dave Rhodes point-blank, when around:

[http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~watrous/txt/get.arrested.fast Get Arrested Fast] "Hi, I'm Dave Rhodes, and I'm in jail. Just six months ago, I was in dire financial straits... Then, I hit upon one of the most amazing schemes for making quick money that I had ever thought of...I took out five post office boxes in different cities and made up four other names so that the first five contributions all went to me. To say the least, the response was overwhelming..."

[http://www.cs.uu.nl/~hansb/makeenemies.html Make Enemies Fast] "My name isn't Dave Rhodes, and I am not a retired attorney, but who cares. I invented a new scheme, which guarantees to work all the time. Use it, and you will never have to work anymore during your entire life. In fact, you will have so many enemies, that nobody ever would consider you for any job of any kind for the rest of your life. A few years ago, I had a nice job with a good income. I owned a beautiful house with a swimming pool (for birds) and hot and cold running water. Now I went bankrupt, and was kicked out of my job. Here is the scheme for archieving the same thing..."

or: "Quickly take your two cents worth and send it to the top name on the list. Delete the top name and add your own to the bottom. Send the letter to as many US government sites as possible, including president@whitehouse.gov, dan.quayle@potatoe.gov and (of course) postmaster@usps.gov. By the miracle of government waste, in no time at all THOUSANDS of postal inspectors, FBI agents and bored meter maids will each be trying to offer you their two cents worth. They may not be polite, but remember that, as a criminal instead of a poor unemployed person, you now have RIGHTS. The results are simply amazing! I live in a Big House now. The government pays for all of my living expenses, which run into several TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars a year. EVERY YEAR! In fact, I'm so rich that I can afford to have a bunch of folks guarding the place around the clock. If I want a slice of bread or a cup of water, they bring it to me without my even having to lift a finger. And the nightlife here is incredible! Bars everywhere! I don't even have to pay a cent for any of it. Many would kill to live like I do now. Many *do* kill to live in a Big House like mine..."

Various claims to have unsuccessfully tried other schemes
These may commonly exist as envelope stuffing scams (make $3 apiece stuffing envelopes that corporations pay a couple of cents to stand stuffed by machine, send $29.95 for information!), "send $20 for information on how to get rich quick" (the information tells busy people to begin an ad expression "send $20 for information on how to get rich quick...") & a such as. Nothing recently under a sun.

Requests to send money or continue the pyramid
A few one may parody older chain letters request to become propagated according to superstition or vary this by adding various urban legends such as "Craig Shergold forgot to forward an e-mail titled Join the Crew and was hit with a new FCC modem tax..."

A requests of what to send too tend to become somewhat original:

Of these [http://www.westfieldnetwork.com/misc/the_oral_sex_pyramid_scheme.html scheme] requests "Welcome to the world of borderline prostitution! This little business is a little different than most whorehouses. Your services are not given for money, but done for the oral sex you will get in return! 1. IMMEDIATELY travel to the homes of the first 5 (five) names listed below starting at number 1 through number 5. When you arrive, simply give them oral sex. 2. REMOVE the name that appears number 1 on the list. Place your name, address and zip code in the number 10 position..."

[http://www.funbureau.com/cgi-bin/pyramid.asp Sock It to Me] asks "Take all your unmatched socks, place them in a sturdy envelope and mail them to the participant named as the top of the list. Do not break this chain! You've heard of athlete's foot but you've never experienced Professional Athlete's Foot!"

of these variant [http://hive.badmonkey.ca/index.php?topic=funnylikemidgets&page=5 Make Penis Fast] asks the reader to send a certain anatomy part, usually within pieces (ouch!), claiming "you are now in the business of extending penii..."

or "bundle up your husband or boyfriend and send him to the woman whose name appears at the top of the list. When your name comes to the top of the list, you will receive 16,377 men - and one of them is bound to be a hell of a lot better than the one you already have. DO NOT BREAK THE CHAIN. HAVE FAITH! One woman broke the chain and got her own sonovabitch back. At the time of writing this letter, a friend of mine had already received 184 men. They buried her yesterday but it took three undertakers 36 hours to get the smile off her face and two days to get her legs together so that they could close the coffin."

A dubious claim that this is lawful
When a original cozenage refer to "postal lottery" laws, a "retired lawyer" or even merchandising "reports" & "lists", the parodies come normally a little less subtle:

[http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/7273/ponzi.htm One would-be Ponzi] claim "By the time you have read the enclosed information and looked over the enclosed program and reports, you should have concluded that such a program, and one that is legal (ahem), could not have been created by an amateur. As a matter of fact, it was created by a PROFESSIONAL con man (no amateur there), and if you think this is legal, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you. A man named Charles Ponzi cooked up this little baby, decades ago. He sucked up lots of money by bilking the citizens of Boston with his "pyramid" scheme, and when it collapsed (as they always do) lots of people discovered that they basically had flushed their money down the toilet, and Charles Ponzi ended up getting deported -- again. More recently, Albania's economy and civil order collapsed because their leaders concocted a similar scheme, squirreled all the money away overseas, and got out just before the citizens who they had defrauded and impoverished could string them up on light poles like they deserved."

The list of names or addresses
This might claim that conceiver universally place their have names at every listings position, for instance: dave.rhodes@make.money.fast dave.rhodes@whered.the.net.access.go dave.rhodes@this.places.toasted.maine.too dave.rhodes@send.maine.money dave.rhodes@goodbye.there is no.carrier dave.rhodes@jail.gov

A second variant is to have fictititious or even joke names like: