SR News: Forward For Money Hoaxes


Forward For Money Hoaxes

We keep seeing more and more hoaxes that ask you to forward something to all
your friends (this should alert you immediately  that  it's  most  likely  a
hoax). They will typically claim that you are helping someone by doing  this
forwarding. We have seen over one-hundred different hoaxes  that  share  the
following characteristics:

   1.They want you to forward the message to "all your friends".

   2.A claim is made that you or some worthy person will get money  or  some
     other compensation for forwarding the hoax.

If you see either of the two above elements in an  email  message,  you  can
disregard it immediately and assume it's a hoax! We have seen too many  such
hoaxes to document each one in detail here.

Some of the more common hoaxes claim a  certain  amount  of  money  will  be
donated each time a message is forwarded (often to some worthy charity or to
help some sick or otherwise deserving individual). Many people think,  "what
the heck....it can't hurt to forward the message". But PLEASE don't  forward
the message. Forwarding the message  can  not  result  in  any  money  being
donated and will further waste internet bandwidth and other people's time.

     If you get a message and are asked to forward it to all  your  friends,
please do not do it!

     If you get a message that claims that some money  will  be  donated  or
     some other favorable action will occur  if  you  forward  it,  you  can
     assume it's a hoax and immediately ignore the message.

These hoaxes can vary a great deal but they will all tend to have the  above
two characteristics. The The Bill Gates / Windows 98 Hoax is a good  example
of a hoax like this.

                                    Copyright c 1998 Stiller Research.
                                   Document Last Modified July 21, 1998.

[=- 㡫  ୠ ᪨ 蠫 //  #2 //  1998  -=]
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