Hi there! Today is your lucky day. Included in this column are simple instructions as to how you, yes you, can make a fortune from your own home with very little effort.

Skeptical? I was too - but it works! After following a few simple guidelines, and sending out a programme (devised by certified accountants tired of working long hours) to other ordinary people just like you and me, the money will start rolling in! So what do you have to lose? It's easy! Simply open up your wallet, and send me all your money! I'll send you the programme, and you're good to go. What could be easier?

What could be easier would be to delete any email like this the moment you receive it. But for some unknown reason, people don't and I'm bombarded by chain letters, get rich quick schemes, and virtually every other type of cyber junk imaginable.

And you know who you are. I'm speaking to those of you who have kept these chains going. You read all about poor little Timmy living in some roofless shack in some Third World Country near the end of the earth. Poor Timmy needs every organ in his body replaced and will only somehow have the funds to do this if you forward his letter on to everyone you know. And you do it.

With the rate at which the internet and internet use continues to expand, spam mail like this is becoming a serious problem. Even more alarming is how many people aren't even aware that certain types of spam are illegal. See for yourself over at www.cs.rutgers.edu/~watrous/chain-letters.html.

The site not only explains why chain letters are wrong and a waste of time, but also why the ones that are after money simply will not work mathematically. There's also a listing of some of the most famous chain letters of all time, among which is the Karen Liddell reports chain letter.

Karen's scam, which encouraged people to send her $5 in exchange for a moneymaking guide, quickly grew to become one of the most recognisable on the internet, and she came to pay the price for it. Through the site's links, you can read her original chain letter, and the subsequent apology she now runs on her web site at http://karenliddell.freeyellow.com. Here's a taste of it: "The past few years have been very difficult for me," she wrote. "I have been harassed via e-mail, and threatening letters have been mailed to my house. Most importantly, I have been contacted by the US Postal Service. First, they sent me a letter. Then, as they received more complaints, they called me. Then, they summoned me to a hearing, where I was fined for doing this. All mail to my house is now being redirected to the US Post Office and I have to wait several days before receiving it."

This has all done seemingly nothing, however, as the same chain letter still circulates the internet in varying forms. Fortunately the internet community has finally begun to police itself, and never more humorously than what you'll find at www.sonic.net/~pvmtsaw/gonad. This page chronicles the punishment one irritated member of the online community dished out on the sender of a moneymaking scheme similar to Karen Liddell's. Over the course of what must have been weeks, he invented multiple characters - some feigning interest, some threatening legal action - and corresponded with this cyber marketer, who, it became known, still lived with his parents and was having trouble getting people to send him money.

The correspondence was regularly posted on a web site, broadcasting the ineptitude of this spammer to the world. This may be the most innovative approach to discouraging chain letters, but it's not the only one.

At www.breakthechain.org, you'll find a site more than willing to help you deal with your junk mail. There's a listing of the various types of chain emails, a search forum to find any one you might have an interest in, and a place you can send chain letters you've received for further inspection. Just don't send them to anyone else.

Alternatively, if you want me to send you a programme on how to make your email account junk free, simply send $5 to Dave Yasvinski, care of The Sofia Echo. It really works!