Chain letter???

[Bob In PA]

Yesterday, by email to one of my semi-official mailboxes, I received the equivalent of a "chain letter" from a trusted source (side note: this person and I seldom agree about anything).  The "letter" is reproduced below.

I did not forward it directly (using the "forwarding" function of Yahoo - my email provider) because I am aware it could be part of an effort to accumulate email addresses (or worse) by some nefarious person or entity. 

Personally, I recommend (on general principles) not forwarding it if you receive it (except in the manner I employed, which was to copy only the text, and paste it here for others to see).

I have at least the following three questions, and I'm thankful to have a forum such as this where I can ask them:

(1) did any of you receive this email (or something similar) and do you know anything about it?
(2) do you perceive the subject matter to be important, or do you believe is it much ado about nothing (I'm not soliciting political views, but rather wondering whether it seems important to you personally)?
(3) as a general matter, what other illegitimate purposes could a person have for sending a "chain letter" through email?

Bob

>>>>
>>>>
>>>>         A woman dies at age 65 before collecting one benefit check. She and her employer paid into the system for almost 50 years and she collected NOTHING.
>>>>         Keep in mind all the working people that die every year who were paying into the system and got nothing.
>>>>         And these governmental morons mismanaged the money and stole from the system, so that it's now going broke.
>>>>         BEAUTIFUL! And they have the audacity to call today's seniors "vultures" in an attempt to cover their ineptitude.
>>>>         DISGRACEFUL!
>>>>         The real reason for renaming our Social Security payments is so the government can claim that all those social security recipients are receiving entitlements thus putting them in the same category as welfare, and food stamp recipients.
>>>>         THIS IS WORTH THE FEW MINUTES IT TAKES TO READ AND DIGEST!
>>>>         F.Y.I. By changing the name of SS contributions, it gives them a means to refute this program in the future. It's free money for the government to spend under this guise.
>>>>         The Social Security check is now (or soon will be) referred to as a Federal Benefit Payment?
>>>>         I will be part of the one percent to forward this. I am forwarding it because it touches a nerve in me, and I hope it will in you.
>>>>         Please keep passing it on until everyone in our country has read it.
>>>>         The government is now referring to our Social Security checks as a "Federal Benefit Payment."This is NOT a benefit.It is OUR money, paid out of our earned income!
>>>>         Not only did we all contribute to Social Security, but our employers did too! It totaled 15% of our income before taxes. (This should be enough for you to forward this message, if not read on.)
>>>>         If you averaged $30K per year over your working life, that's close to $180,000 invested in Social Security.
>>>>         If you calculate the future value of your monthly investment in social security ($375/month, including both you and your employers

[MightyGiants]

I didn't get this because most people who know me know better than try and send me false information:


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/28/fact-check-social-security-has-always-been-known-federal-benefit/5526299002/


Our ruling: False
The claim that the federal government recently began referring to Social Security checks as "Federal Benefit Payments" is FALSE. The term "benefits" has been used to describe Social Security payments and many other payments from federal government programs for decades. The claim that Social Security taxes total 15% of an individual's income is also FALSE, as the amount that each individual pays depends on a variety of factors, including whether or not a person is self-employed and a person's annual income. Social Security taxes alone total no more than 12.4%, and taxable income is capped at $137,700. Those who are not self-employed split this tax with their employers, each paying 6.2%.

[Bob In PA]

I didn't get this because most people who know me know better than try and send me false information:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/28/fact-check-social-security-has-always-been-known-federal-benefit/5526299002/

Our ruling: False
The claim that the federal government recently began referring to Social Security checks as "Federal Benefit Payments" is FALSE. The term "benefits" has been used to describe Social Security payments and many other payments from federal government programs for decades. The claim that Social Security taxes total 15% of an individual's income is also FALSE, as the amount that each individual pays depends on a variety of factors, including whether or not a person is self-employed and a person's annual income. Social Security taxes alone total no more than 12.4%, and taxable income is capped at $137,700. Those who are not self-employed split this tax with their employers, each paying 6.2%.

Rich: I forgot to mention that the subject-matter of the letter didn't add up (or make sense) to me.  But what about my other questions.... do you think it could be a scam of some sort?  Bob

[jimv]

It looks like crap to me.  I didn't even read all the way through.  The fact that it came from somebody you seldom agree with should've put you on alert.

I only forward jokes to a list of my friends.  And I address each one as a bcc.

[Bob In PA]

I want to emphasize (by reiterating something only implied in the original post) that the least of my purposes in posting this was to get views on correctness of the substance of the email.

Rather, I'm curious about the whole situation because:

(1) I've never before received anything remotely resembling a chain letter via email; 
(2) I'm looking for views on what purpose could possibly be served by sending out a chain letter (if any);
(3) Since I can't think of a legitimate purpose, I suspect a non-legitimate purpose and therefore am hoping to brainstorm that aspect of the situation with anyone who cares to participate.
(4) My assumption is that others who read this might be more tech-savvy or knowledgeable than I.

Bob

[MightyGiants]

I will say any chain mail is suspect

My first trigger was the first 2 sentences.   Their "brilliant" observation is literally how every pension system works and how SS has worked since its inception (although I did notice they "forgot" to mention the regular exception to that which is if the person who dies has a dependent spouse).

The use of the word "morons" was the next trigger, as I am unaware of any intelligent worth reading/considering work where the author uses that term, especially in such a sweeping manner.

Finally, I got to the first factual claim (that they are presenting as "news").    At that point, it wasn't hard to Google that claim to see if it was true (which I doubted as I consume far too much news to be totally unaware of such news).   Once I was able to Google their first factual claim it was game over for the fraudsters.

and that's as far as I needed to go.