Hoaxes, Hooey, and Hogwash

• A.I.D.S "Virus" (1997) Supposedly destroys memory, sound card, and more. Not possible.
• AOL4FREE (1997) This warning of e-mail with the subject "AOL4FREE:" containing a virus was first a hoax. A Trojan with that name was released a couple of weeks after the hoax.
• AOL "Privacy Invasion" UseNet Post/Email Warning (1997) Hoax warning regarding AOL 4 claimed to be from ex-AOL employee.
• AOL-Intel merger ("I'm an attorney, and I know the law") (1999) Make-money-fast scheme is a hoax.
• "Bud Frogs Screensaver" Trojan/Virus "alert" (1998) Warning that downloading a Bug Frogs scrennsaver will make your hard drive crash is a hoax. Surprise! (Also applies to "Bug's Life" screensaver.)
• BUDDYLST (1998) Email warning that downloading a file called BUDDTYLST.ZIP will allow someone to get your screen name and password is a hoax.
• California/WOBBLER (1999) Warning that an email attachment called "California" contains the "WOBBLER" virus is a hoax.
• Canada Email Surcharge and U.S. Postal Service "alternate postage fees" "Legislation 602P" email warnings (1999) These ask you to fight supposed legislation to set a five-cent surcharge on every e-mail delivered.
• CelCom Screensaver/Sandmanweb page (and sometimes other) warning (1999) Claim that installation of a file called "CELLSAVER.EXE" will destroy your hard disk is a hoax.
• Disney World Free Trip or $5000 (1998) No! This is an evil chain letter offering a free trip to Disney World or $5,000. It's not true. Do not forward.
• "Elf Bowling" Infected Program (1999) Email warning that Frogapult.exe and Elfbowl.exe (Frog game and elf bowling) will activate on Christmas and wipe out your system is a hoax.
• Family Pictures/Pictures of Family (2001) Warning that the "NEW PICTURES OF FAMILY" attachment in an email message is a virus that will erase your whole "C" drive is a particularly stupid hoax. But then again, aren't they all?
• FCC Modem Tax (long distance charge) Hoax (1998) Reports that the FCC wants to institute per-minute charges on Internet traffic are false. An old hoax with a new lease on life. Help put it back in its proper resting place.
• Free IBM Computer (a.k.a. HP-Gateway merger) (1999) Offer of a free computer for forwarding email is a hoax. Surprise surprise.
• Free M&Ms (1999) Offer of free candy is another hoax based on the Microsoft Email Tracking one.
• GAP Clothing Giveaway/Email Tracking (1999) This chain mail (falsely promising free clothes for sending email) is based on the Microsoft Email Tracking hoax listed below.
• Gates (Bill) Email Tracing/$1000 Reward (1997) This promise of money in return for forwarding is a hoaxarooni and an evil chain letter.
• Gerber Baby Food Gift Certificate (1997) This request for birth certificates and social security card numbers in exchange for cash is a hoax and credit card scam.
• Good Times (1994) This warning about a virus called "Good Times" is a hoax. Still.
• Honda "Rewards Program" (1999) Offer of credit toward purchase of a vehicle in return for forwarding e-mail is, of course, false.
• Houghton Mifflin Book Donation (1997) Real, but ended in 1997.
• Internet Flower Virus (2000) Warning that if you open e-mail with the subject "An Internet Flower For You" your computer won't be able to boot up is a hoax. Yawn.
• Irina (1996) Oh yeah. The warning about the Irina "virus" is a hoax.
• It Takes Guts To Say 'Jesus' (1999) Just a rewording of WIN A HOLIDAY hoax. Warns that mail with the subject "It Takes Guts To Say 'Jesus'" contains a virus.
• JDBGMGR file (2002) This hoax is just a minor variant of the SULFNBK hoax. The mail warns that a harmless file (jdbgmgr.exe), which is actually part of Windows, is infected.
• Jessica Mydek Dying Wish (American Cancer Society) (1997) Cruel fraud claims money will be donated if you forward the message. Another evil chain letter.
• Join the Crew (1997) Warning that opening an email message with the subject "Join the Crew" causes your hard drive to be erased is a hoax (barely worth mentioning).
• The Kelsey Brooke Jones Missing Child (2001) This email sking for help finding a mising child named Kelsey Brooke Jones is not true now—and perhaps never was.
• Lump of Coal (1999) Warning that email with the subject "Lump of Coal" contains a virus is a really stupid, threadbare hoax.
• Madalyn Murray O'Hair FCC Petition (1998) This is a most unseemly hoax.
• Microsoft Email Tracking System (1999) Reports that Microsoft will send you money for forwarding e-mail are obviously false: a pyramid scheme in reverse.
• Mobile/Cellular Phone "Virus" (1999) Warning that answering a phone call allows a virus to infect your cell phone is a hoax.
• Monopoly Virus (1999) This announcement of the Monopoly virus (a real virus never yet reported "in the wild") was a marketing ploy for an antivirus vendor. Ignore the sales tactics.
• Nigerian "Frozen Assets" Windfalls (1999) This scam comes in many forms, all of them offering you a large sum of money for helping get money out of the country where it currently is or participating in some other money laundering or illegal activity. Has been around since the early 1980s and is still making the rounds as of 2003.
• PBS/NPR/NEA petition drive (1999) This is evil chain mail (supposedly a petition to save PBS, NPR, and NEA from major budget cutbacks) from 1995.
• PENPAL GREETINGS! (1996) Warning that opening a message with the subject "PENPAL GREETINGS" will cause a virus to destroy all the data on your hard drive is a hoax.
• PERRIN/Upgrade Internet2 (2000) This email warning of a virus with no cure is a hoax.
• PKZ300 (1996) Not a virus! It's a Trojan Horse. Barely. The # PKZ300B.EXE does exist and is harmful, but we've never seen an actual instance of it—just the warning.
• Pretty Park (2000) This warning that the Pretty Park virus will erase your "C" drive is a hoax (though an old virus named PrettyPark does exist).
• Return or Unable to Deliver "Virus" (1997) Waring of a virus (spread though e-mail with the subject "Returned or Unable to Deliver") with no remedy that will render your computer useless is a hoax. More stupidity.
• Sector Zero/Virtual Card For You (2001) Warning that a virus spread though email with the subject "A Virtual Card for You" will destroy Sector Zero on your computer and destroy your hard drive is a hoax.
• SULFNBK (2001) Warning to check your computer for an infected file called "SULFNBK.EXE" is a hoax—but like many hoaxes, it contains a grain of truth.
• Taliban Petition (1999) This petition, urging the United Nations to do something about the treatment of women in then-Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, is chain mail that, sadly, won't do any good to "forward to all your friends."
• WIN A HOLIDAY (1998) Warning of a virus sent through email with the subject "WIN A HOLIDAY" is a silly rewording of another silly hoax.
• 809 Area Code Callback (1997) Warning that returning an unsolicited call to a number with the area code 809 will result in a bill for you is a real con game.
• "90#" Telephone Scam (1998) Not worth forwarding; not quite a hoax either. Email warns people not to respond to request from someone claiming to be a phone technician to forward the technician to an outside line by dialing 9-0-#.

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