Internet Hoaxes/ Please Don't Get Caught Up In Them

Please add www.urbanlegends.com to your list of hoax-busting sites.

Or how about the sheer stupidity of one who actually believes that Microsoft, for one, would actually track millions of emails like that, nevermind pay each person thousands of dollars for it.

(By the way, if you copy and paste my message onto an email, and send to at least 100 people, you'll get an Outback Steakhouse gift certificate that will magically pop on your screen...if you don't, you'll get hit by a truck tomorrow by noon.)

Slappy- Cut the crap. There are many perfectly intelligent people who get caught up in an internet hoax. That is why they are so problematic. At first blush, especially if you are not aware that these schemes abound, they often seem credible.

It is only when you are made aware, that your antennae go up, and you can spot them more easily.

Now Slappy. I have this lovely apartment for sale on 929 East 56th St. in Manhattan. It's a steal, and if you play your cards right, you can have it for cheap!

Phoenix, I'm not a big fan of New York, but if you have any Florida swampland for sale, keep me in mind.

Oh Phoenix, you shunned me yet again.

I admit, I once fell for the "gift certificate" hoax email. I did. I sent it out.

However, I still like to have fun at other's expense.

Manhattan? I'd love to buy it, but I'm trying to figure out how the hell I could afford anything here in Bahston, nevermind NY. I might as well buy a condo in FL.

Even the high-tech people can fall a hoax victim. I have got once such a mail (exactly the one Slappy Doo Hoo mentioned) that was resent by one of the employees of the telecommunication company Comverse Inc.[NASDAQ:CMVT].

Commen? I don't get why anyone would respond to anyone by e-mail they don't know much less follow instructions from them. The only one I answer is the Nigerian who needs to get billions of dollars out of the country and just needs my bank account number in order to make a huge deposit. If I was going to go fishing I'd start with the ones that offer to modify my anatomy.

Pitter, someone here recently showed us a site where this guy posts his correspondence with a Nigerian scammer. It's great.

Found it. It was suzy who posted it. Here it is:

http://www.quatloos.com/brad-c/mariam-abacha02.htm

I never pay any attention to that stuff, but thanks for the info Phoenix. There are tons of scams out there and the more people that know about them, the better.

I got a good laugh when I got the one from the guy with the billion dollars who wanted to put it in my bank account, lol :-)

Hope you don't mind me posting this again - I posted it somewhere else on a2k the other day.


I was on my way to the post office to pick up my case of free M&M's
(sent to me because I forwarded an e-mail to five other people,
celebrating the fact that the year 2000 is "MM" in Roman numerals), when
I ran into a friend whose neighbor, a young man, was home recovering
from having been served a rat in his bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken
(which is predictable, since as everyone knows, there's no actual
chicken in Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is why the government made them change their name to KFC).

Anyway, one day this guy went to sleep and when he awoke he was in his
bathtub and it was full of ice and he was sore all over and when he got
out of the tub he realized that HIS KIDNEY HAD BEEN STOLEN. He saw a
note on his mirror that said "Call 911!" but he was afraid to use his
phone because it was connected to his computer, and there was a virus on
his computer that would destroy his hard drive if he opened an e-mail
entitled "Join the crew!" He knew it wasn't a hoax because he himself was a computer programmer who was working on software to prevent a global disaster in which all of the computers get together and distribute the $250.00 Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe under the leadership of Bill Gates. (It's true - I read it all last week in a mass e-mail from BILL GATES HIMSELF, who was also promising me a free Disney World vacation and $5,000 if I would forward the e-mail to everyone I know.)

The poor man then tried to call 911 from a pay phone to report his
missing kidneys, but a voice on the line first asked him to press
#90, which unwittingly gave the bandit full access to the phone line at
the guy's expense. Then reaching into the coin-return slot he got
jabbed with an HIV-infected needle around which was wrapped a note that
said, "Welcome to the world of AIDS." Luckily he was only a few
blocks from the hospital - the one where that little boy who is dying of
cancer is, the one whose last wish is for everyone in the world to send
him an e-mail and the American Cancer Society has agreed to pay him a
nickel for every e-mail he receives. I sent him two e-mails and one of
them was a bunch of x's and o's in the shape of an angel (if you get it
and forward it to more than 10 people, you will have good luck but for
10 people only you will only have OK luck and if you send it to fewer
than 10 people you will have BAD LUCK FOR SEVEN YEARS).
So anyway the poor guy tried to drive himself to the hospital, but on
the way he noticed another car driving without its lights on. To be
helpful, he flashed his lights at him and was promptly shot as part of a
gang initiation.

Send THIS to all the friends who send you their junk mail and you will
receive 4 green M&Ms - if you don't, the owner of Proctor and Gamble
will report you to his Satanist friends and you will have more bad luck:
you will get sick from the Sodium Laureth Sulfate in your shampoo, your
spouse/mate will develop a skin rash from using the antiperspirant which
clogs the pores under your arms, and the U.S. government will put a tax
on your e-mails forever.

I know this is all true 'cause I read it on the Internet.

Sozobe
I just checked out that site and it's an absolute riot

Hey! What's going on? He was supposed to put that in MY account!

Another thing about mass mailings. First, I never send them. If by some chance that I have something that I want to share with a few friends, I send it BCC. It don't think that it is anybody's business to whom else the mailing was sent.

I also get annoyed when I receive a mailing where I can see everybody else's address, and they can see mine!

Guess what I just received in my e-mail. I'm gonna be rich!

Attn: President,

Sir,

I am Mr.Evans Kwame, a Ghanian.It is with my utmost sincererity that I am writing this mail to you. I got your contact through the Who is Who and I decided to contact you as most capable to handle this business transaction.

I was formerly an accountant general with the former late General Sani Abacha's company in Lome Togo. Please you must keep this business as a top secret to your good self.

During my tenure in office as the accountant general to the late former head of state General Sani Abacha, he deposited in my name the sum of Nine million five hundred and fifty thousand United States Dollars($9,550,000.00) cash with a Security company in Lome, Togo. Immediately I heard of his death, I quickly took away the certificate of deposit which was issued to me by the security company. I have gone for the money and was told by the Managing Director of the Security Company that I can only collect the money in their offshore office Abroad.

It was in this respect I wanted you to claim/collect the money from the security company on my behalf and we can use it for viable investments in your country before I join you in your country as a future business partner. I plan to invest this funds into a good profitable business with you as my technical partner.

As regarding my present condition of health and financial position,I will not be in a better position to travel out for now till I have fully recovered from sickness. If you accept this my business proposal to you, I would like you to indicate your interest by sending to me the reply through my e-mail address.

Your immediate response will facilitate this business transaction as I hope that this transaction is completed within a week of it inception and I look forward to having a good business relationship with you.

Best regards,

Mr.Evans Kwame


First time I've gotten one of these in a long time, thought it was funny after reading the site linked to above just a few days ago.

LarryBS- I would like a dollar for every poor sucker who was taken in by that particular piece of tripe. I am glad that you were forewarned!

Larry, I'd loooooove to see what you could do, chain-yanking-wise. Prolly more trouble than it's worth, though. (Judging from that site, these people are PERSISTENT! )

It would be fun to correspond with them, but the guy at that website above can't be beat. Funny.

There's a couple of other good sites:

http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
http://www.vmyths.com/
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html


Usually a Google search on a key phrase or name in the text will pick up any information. It might be of interest that this tradition goes back a long way. Telegraph operators in the 19th century would do much the same with their employee's equipment and some spare time (never could happen these days :wink: !). Sergeant John Timothy O'Keeffe of the US Signal Corps made himself quite famous as the "Pikes Peak Prevaricator".

You mean I'm not going to get any free beer? Or money deposited in my account from Nigeria? Or prayers and good wishes from around the world?

Man, what a rip...