Why do people start false chain letters?

The few times I do receive ridiculous emails that immediately send me to Snopes, I wonder why exactly someone ever started the false concept. What type of pleasure does the initial creator of a chain letter derive from spamming their friends and families with the tale of a fake child who will receive 7 cents from the Make-a-Wish foundation for any person that forwards the email? And do people get off on stirring panic in their naive aunts and uncles with false claims about highway patrol or gas scams?

I just don’t get it. Why do these things exist? Why do people create them, and why do people believe them? I guess the email forwards about gas scams and the like are slightly more believable, but I’ll never understand why anyone believes that forwarding emails accomplishes donations…