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AVOID CHAIN-LETTER TYPE EMAIL HOAXES !!!

FREE CELLPHONES, ANYONE ?
As it seems the latest batch of hoax emails are doing their rounds, we felt it was appropriate to provide some user information on the issue. No doubt most of you have received one or more copies of an email claiming to be from Nokia (or Ericsson) offering free cellphones if you forward the email a certain number of times. Sorry folks, don't look for your phone in the post, this is just another internet hoax. Similar hoaxes include supposed offers by Microsoft, AOL or whoever offering to pay you hundreds of rands or dollars for assisting them in "market research".

 
BOGUS "PRAYER REQUESTS"
Most of these hoaxes are designed to appeal to our emotions, fears or greed. Other "favourites" are bogus prayer requests (eg "American millionaire offers to pay 1$ to sick child every time this mail is forwarded" ). The truth of the matter is that there is currently technically no way to track how an email is forwarded.

 
FAKE VIRUS WARNINGS
The ubiquitous "VIRUS WARNING - don't open an email called 'It takes guts to say Jesus' because it will erase your entire hard drive, there is no cure, and spokesman from IBM and AOL says, etc etc." hoax has been circulating with slight variations for more than 4 years now - we have personally received it many dozen times, and there is absolutely no truth in any of the "claims" made. A variation of this mail was reported as "real" in our local newspapers about three years ago - a few months later an apologetic retraction was published. We have heard reports of some poor individual in the US who reformatted his hard drive as he thought he had "the virus". Let's help to stamp out ignorance ... as that is what these pranksters rely on to perpetuate their jokes. There are several ways to discern a hoax warning from the real thing:

HOW TO DISCERN THE REAL VIRUS WARNINGS FROM THE FAKES
First of all, let us say that there is a very real danger of infection by one of the 50,000-odd genuine viruses in existence. We cannot stress enough the wisdom of running reputable virus protection software on your PC, eg Norton Anti-Virus or McAfee VirusScan. Most important - make sure that your copy is registered and that you regularly download updates from the relevant website.

If you do receive a virus warning and you want to check it out, there are a number of reputable websites that provide reliable information:

WHY WE SHOULD AVOID RESPONDING TO HOAX EMAILS
The effect of these electronic chain letters varies from wasting YOUR time and causing annoyance, to clogging mailboxes and email systems and ultimately slowing down the speed of the 'net for us all. Wherever possible, verify the original source of an email before mass forwarding it. A quick search through one of the search engines will normally provide the confirmation required.

PLEASE .. don't add to this ... DON'T forward these emails, just delete them and advise your friends and contacts to do the same .. there is enough junk mail around without you adding to it !

 
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT INTERNET HOAXES:

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This article was posted in the interests of promoting education about the Internet
last updated 31 May 2004