The Honda "Reward System"/Credits Toward a Car Email Is A Hoax

Last significant update: 13 October, 1999

This information can be freely reproduced in any medium, as long as the information is unmodified.

Thanks to Justin Luke for first bringing this to our attention on 6 October 1999.

Here is another silly "get rich quick" hoax, based on the Microsoft Tracking hoax.

Note that looking at the Honda web site (leaving our site) had no such "account" info on 6 October, but does now. See Honda's debunk (leaving our site) ; well and expeditiously done, Honda!

Ok, let's take a look at this, and dissect it:

> Dear valued potential customers:

> Here at Honda we have been well known for over 20 years for providing
> the best in reliabillity, comfort, and style.  Over the years we have
> risen to be one of the top auto industries here in Japan.  But that
> isn't enough.

> We want to be number one in the US. Now our twentieth anniversary for
> making cars is here!!!  This is the perfect opportunity for you and us
> here at Honda to celebrate our 20 years of excellent service. We have
> been trying to think of ideas to get more people to know about our
> cars. And with technology and e-mail being the wave of the future, we
> want to jump on this opportunity.  So we have set up a rewards system
> to repay those who help us spread the word about Honda. Our marketing
> staff has designed a special program that traces this message as it
> travels across the US. 

As we've pointed out in many other such hoaxes, no such tracking system exists, nor will it ever (perhaps outside of an agency such as the NSA).

> Anyone who forwards this e-mail, will
> immediately have an account at their local Honda dealer opened in
> their name.  This account will initially be opened with a credit of
> $1,000 toward any new or used vehicle at their participating
> dealership. 

Let's take a look at this preposterous claim:

• Assume that each person who receives this sends it along to only two other people, and that it takes one day for each "cycle." Then in a mere 28 days, more people (536,870,911) than live in the United States (273,742,105 at this writing) will have been contacted, and in 32 days, more than the entire population of the world (see e.g., The U. S. Census Bureau (leaving our site)) data.

• Now at $1000 per person, minimum, that means that Honda would be bankrupt in a lot less than a month.
• Yes, there will be some duplication, sending to the same person more than once.
• This is more than balanced by the fact that these messages are forwarded to a lot more than merely 2 others, based on samples I've seen.
• Just for reference, we'd exceed the U.S. population in 12 days if 5 copies were sent by each participant, and with 50 people, the U.S. popluation would be covered in under a week, and the entire world covered twice over on the next day.

If you really want to understand the math, either see the Microsoft Tracking hoax, or send me email.

> For each person you forward this e-mail to, the amount of
> $200 will be added to your account.  If the recipients of this e-mail
> forward it you will be rewarded an additional $100 for each person it
> reaches and if they also forward it your account continues to grow in
> $100 increments. 

Obviously, this makes it even more preposterous -- these sums are in addition to that original supposed $1000. It would make the thing break even faster, were it true. But of course it is not true, so why analyse this further?

> You can log onto our website at http://www.Honda.com
> to check the balance of your account.  If things go well and everyone
> participates you should see your account grow quite quickly. Follow
> the on screen instructions to order the specific make and model of
> Honda you want to buy with your account.  We hope that this is a
> rewarding experience for you and us.  Our goal is to reach over 1
> million computers by the year 2000. 

> I thank you for your time and business,

> Sincerely,
> 
> Kageyama Hironobu
> Senior Honda Marketing Advisor

Subsequently, "testimonials" have appeared with this hoax. They, of course, are just as bogus as the original....

> First off, I just want everyone to know that this is the real thing. I
> forwarded this message to everyone I know about 6 months ago and last
> week a Honda employee showed up at my house with my brand new 1999
> Civic EX!!!  

Each one of us!!!

> It is so funny because I never believed these things
> worked and actually I sent this one as a joke to all my friends. But
> they forwarded the message to and now I have received a new car!!! My
> best friend actually hasn't gotten his car just yet but he checked the
> balance of his Honda Account and it has reached nearly 11,000!!! If
> you like Honda's or you just want a new car, please forward this
> message it is the real thing.
> 
> Bob Stanley, Denver Colorado

What was that about greed/avarice/covetousness being one of the Seven Deadly Sins?

[Although there are 5 Robert Stanleys listed in the Denver phone book, I strongly suspect that "Bob Stanley" is a ficticious character, or that he never actually wrote this. This is the invention of a hoaxter, perhaps a different one from the originator of the Honda hoax.]

Another bearer of false witness:

 
> Friends,

> Look I know this sounds too good to be true, and that's what I thought
> too.  But I called Honda's headquarters in Japan and spoke to an
> american representative myself and it really is true!  They assured me
> that this the real thing!  I still wasn't convinced but I called three
> weeks later and my Honda account balance has reached the unbelievable
> sum of $12,500!!!  So even if you don't believe this forward it
> anyways so my account will continue to grow until I get my brand new
> Prelude!!!

Yeah, right.

Please do not forward this -- or any other hoax -- to all your friends.

Instead, you should reply to the sender -- and as far back up the email chain as you have energy -- informing the originators that this is a hoax. For this particular hoax, I suggest that you provide a pointer to this URL (http://www.umich.edu/~virus-busters/hoaxes/honda.html)
For virus or hoax info, please see our main page (http://www.umich.edu/~virus-busters/) or go to another reputable site, like DataFellows (leaving our site).

   -BPB

visits to this page since 13 October, 1999 20:14 EDT