Further, as the "Global Communications" 809 phone fraud shows, con-men and thieves are gravitating toward massive spams as a way to perpetrate their crimes. For more information on fraud and scams, see the National Fraud Information Center, Internet ScamBusters or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Scamsters are spamming fake contest "entries" also. When one of them was called on it, they subscription-bombed the person who did it. See the whole story.
Another typical claim is to spam offers for "free" web pages. Peter da Silva has a list of legitimate offers of free Web space.
Recently, someone forwarded me a spammed web site registry offer. They claimed they had a list of high-profile customers, including The New York Times, Iams and Inc. I forwarded a copy to The Times and received a call early the next morning not only disclaiming a connection to the spammer, but letting me know that they were ordering the spammer to stop using The Times' name in their advertising. See The Times' follow-up e-mail to me. My correspondent contacted Iams - see their response - and Inc. - their response. In a final fillip, the spammer is now being investigated for fraud - false advertising.
Lastly, chain letter spams are not just rude, annoying, and spam. If there is money exchanged, they're illegal in the United States according to the United States Postal Service. For the definitive word on "Make Money Fast" chain letters, see the MMF Hall of Humiliation. See also what other users are saying about MMF.
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