I have received a nice message from my sister and it was a Hoax chain letter. How did I know it was a hoax? Anytime I get a message that has the phrase "pass it on to all your friends and family" or "Forward this to everyone you know". I get very suspicious.
I did a search on AltaVista (an Internet search engine) using the keywords “The Disney / Bill Gates Email Hoax”. I got tons of referenced sites. I then went to the ultimate source on viruses and hoaxes http://ciac.llnl.gov/
The CIAC provides on-call technical assistance and information to Department of Energy (DOE) sites faced with computer security incidents. This central incident handling capability is one component of all encompassing service provided to the DOE community. CIAC is an element of the Computer Security Technology Center (CSTC) which supports the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).
They have it listed. http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html#disney
Any time you see something like the above where you expected to believe that by sending an email message to your friends, you (or someone else) will receive some compensation, you can assume it's a hoax.... or worse, a scam! Delete it. Please do not pass it on.
From the CIAC on chainletters http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACChainLetters.html
“If each of the so-called good Samaritans sends the letter on to only ten other people (most send to huge mailing lists), the ninth re-sending results in a billion e-mail messages, thereby, clogging the network and interfering with the receiving of legitimate e-mail messages. Factor in the time lost reading and deleting all these messages and you see a real cost to organizations and individuals from these seemingly innocuous messages. Not only are these messages time consuming and costly, they may also be damaging to a person's or organization's reputation as in the case of the Jessica Mydek and the American Cancer Society chain letters.
They are also illegal (See the US Postal Inspection Service information on chain letters) if they ask for money or anything else of value.”
Please not spread unconfirmed warnings about viruses and Trojans. If you receive an un-validated warning, don't pass it to all your friends, pass it to your computer security manager to validate first. The same goes for chain letters.
HOAXBUSTERS Home Page at CIAC
The AFU & Urban Legends Archive
Data Fellows Anti-Virus HOAX warnings page
Current Internet Hoaxes, urban legends, and other digital lies - Urban Legends and Folklore
If you find a link that is not working or just to give me feedback, I can be
reached at
mhenson@telebyte.com
Thanks for stopping by.
Disclaimer: This web-page is maintained courtesy of Matt and Laura Henson. The Henson's do not assume any liability for the accuracy of information contained on this page nor the suitability of any materials linked to this page.
Copyright 24 Nov 2002