Antiforward #6

Subject: E-mail hoaxes

Subject: This could be real, read on...

NO ONE IS EVER GOING TO GIVE YOU *ANYTHING* FOR
FORWARDING AN E-MAIL MESSAGE TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS.

I don't care what you might have heard from other people. YOU CAN'T GET
SOMETHING FOR NOTHING, and you certainly can't get something for
simply forwarding an e-mail to all of your friends.

I am and you would be, surprised at how many people still believe
that these silly "forward an e-mail to all of your friends and
something great will happen" hoaxes are true. What follows is the truth
about many of the 'e-mail forwarding' hoaxes I have received over
the past couple of weeks. Look close at these -- you'll notice a
distinct
pattern:

- Honda is *NOT* going to give you a free car for forwarding an
e-mail message to all of your friends.

- The newly merged Microsoft and AOL is *NOT* going to give you
money for forwarding an e-mail message to all of your friends
[and, even sillier, not only have Microsoft and AOL *NOT*
merged -- US antitrust laws would prohibit such a merger -- but
Microsoft and AOL are BITTER ENEMIES!]

- No one is actually going to "hop on the Bus" if you forward
this e-mail message to three of your friends. :P

- Old Navy is *NOT* going to give you a free $25 gift card for
forwarding an e-mail message to all of your friends.

- M&M's is *NOT* going to give you a free case of M&Ms for
forwarding an e-mail message to all of your friends.

- Abercrombie & Fitch is *NOT* going to give you a free gift
certificate for forwarding an e-mail message to all of your friends.

- The Gap is *NOT* going to give you free cargo pants and
Hawaiian shirts for forwarding an e-mail message to all of your
friends. [This one is my favorite!]

- IBM is *NOT* going to give you a free computer for forwarding
an e-mail message to all of your friends.

- Microsoft is *NOT* going to give you free money for forwarding
an e-mail message to all of your friends.

- Microsoft is also *NOT* going to give you a free copy of
Windows 98 for forwarding an e-mail message to all of your friends.

- Microsoft and Disney are *NOT* going to give you a free trip to
Disney World for forwarding an e-mail message to all of your friends.

- Nike is *NOT* going to give you free shoes for forwarding an
e-mail message to all of your friends.

- The Guinness Book of World Records is *NOT* going to add your
name to their book for forwarding an e-mail message to all of your
friends.

- Some billionaire is *NOT* going to make a donation to a dying
child in return for your forwarding an e-mail message to all of your
friends.

- Some cancer or disease society is *NOT* going to make a
donation to a dying child in return for your forwarding an
e-mail message to all of your friends. [In fact, every one of
the Net's "dying kid" stories is an outright hoax ... NOT ONE has been
true.]

- Some stranger is not going to magically cause a really neat
movie to pop-up on your screen in return for your forwarding an
e-mail message to all of your friends.

Did you notice an underlying theme in all of these? FOLKS, NO ONE IS
EVER GOING TO GIVE YOU *ANYTHING* FOR SIMPLY FORWARDING AN E-MAIL
MESSAGE TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS! (Gee, where did we hear THAT before?)

What should you do if you receive an "e-mail forwarding" message that
doesn't appear on our list? Should you forward the message to all of
your friends on the off chance that it just might be true? Of course
not. Regardless of how the message is written, it is still a hoax.

One way to keep up with Net hoaxes and urban legends, especially the
myriad of e-mail forwarding hoaxes, is to bookmark and frequently visit
both:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/

http://www.snopes.com/

The other way to keep up with Net hoaxes and urban legends is to start
looking for patterns in these hoaxes. All e-mail virus warning hoaxes
follow the same pattern. All "forward an e-mail to all of your friends
and something great will happen" hoaxes also follow a pattern, as do
all of the "dying kid" hoaxes.

FROM CONSUMER REPORTS

Tech Life

You've got flim-flam!

How to deal with e-mail hoaxes

    Have you received an e-mail message like this one? "I am writing this
article to request something for a terminally ill boy. Craig Shergold is
a seven year old boy who has terminal cancer. His ambition before he dies
is to be included in the Guinness Book of Records as having the largest
collection of business cards. My request is that EVERYONE who reads this
posting send at least one business card to him."
    If you thought about sending a card, you fell victim to a hoax.
    A real Craig Shergold did request greeting cards while suffering from
cancer in 1989, but he's now a healthy college student who has tried
without success to stop the hoax.
    No one knows who started it, but it's tenacious. The Make-A-Wish
Foundation, whose address appears in the message, has received so many
business cards that its web site steers away people who want to help
Shergold, warning that staff time and resources are being diverted from
helping children in need.
    As the number of people using e-mail has skyrocketed, so have the
number of hoaxes, rumors, and "urban legends." Here are a few:
    * Unwary travelers can be tranquilized and have their kidneys stolen.
No, says the National Kidney Foundation.
    * The government found the AIDS virus on needles planted in pay
telephones. Not so, according to the national Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
    * There's a vicious new computer virus afoot. Perhaps the oldest and
best known is the Good Times hoax, which claimed: "If you get anything
called 'Good Times', don't read or download it. It is a virus that will
erase your hard drive." Panicky users have kept this one going for five
years.
    * An e-mail message circulating recently urged the recipient:
"Forward this to everyone you know and if it reaches 1000 people everyone
on the list will receive $1000 at my expense. Enjoy. Your friend, Bill
Gates." Gates, the billionaire chairman of Microsoft, has publicly called
the offer nonsense.

What's the harm?

    There are a number of reasons for caution when you receive an
unconfirmed e-mail.
    You'll waste others' time. If you forward a hoax message or do what
it asks, it means someone else has to spend time dealing with the
message. If the hoax involves a major institution, it could impede other
work. The National Kidney Foundation, for example, is concerned that the
kidney-theft hoax will affect people's willingness to become organ
donors.
    You'll cause panic. Warning friends about an unfounded threat
disrupts their lives and spreads fear.
    You'll slow the Internet. Suppose that you forward one message to 15
people, and that each of them forwards it to 15 others, and so on. Just
four generations of the process can produce more than 50,000 e-mail
messages. Circulating your e-mail address to large numbers of strangers
can also increase the amount of junk e-mail you receive.

How to spot a hoax

    Most e-mail hoaxes include at least one of the following:
    * A dire warning or very attractive offer that plays on your fear,
greed, or sympathy.
    * Credibility by reference to a government agency, a major
institution, or a well-known individual.
    * The use of technical language that most people probably won't
completely understand.
    * A request that you forward a copy of the e-mail, often to everyone
you know.
    A hoax will often contain no dates in the message itself and will
name no real individual to contact. You may also find rows of ">>" before
every line, which shows how many people have passed the message along.
    Hoaxers may "spoof;" or falsify a return address, making the message
appear to come from a legitimate source. You can try to validate an
e-mail message by contacting the apparent sender, requesting
identification.
    Some hoaxes claim to be able to track how many times you forward an
e-mail to friends, but in fact there is no technology for doing this on
the Internet.
    Some hoaxes may warn that an e-mail virus can destroy the contents of
your computer. But only a program attached to an e-mail message can do
that. That's why you should never open an e-mail attachment unless you're
sure you know what it contains.
    The best protection against viruses distributed by e-mail is
virus-checking software, such as McAfee VirusScan or Norton AntiVirus,
$30 to $60 if not included in the software supplied with the computer.
Whenever you receive a suspicious e-mail, delete it or try to check its
validity at one of the web sites listed below.

Hoax watchers

ICSA Hoax Information
(an Internet security company)
http://www.icsa.net/services/consortia/anti-virus/alerthoax.shtml

Computer Virus Myths Home Page
http://www.kumite.com/myths

Department of Energy
Computer Incident Advisory Capability
http://ciac.Ilnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html

Expert Guide to Urban Legends
http://www.urbanlegends.about.com

San Fernando Valley Folklore Society's Urban Legends Reference Pages
http://www.snopes.com

CONSUMER REPORTS DECEMBER 1999 page 65