Is that "Urgent" E-mail Message a Warning of a Real "Virus" or just an "Urban Myth"?
It seems as if the minute a new person logs on to the Internet they get a flood of email warning of dire consequences if they open an email with a certain subject line. There are viruses that can be transmitted via email, however a lot of these so-called viruses are imaginary. They are myths, let's face it is it really believable that Disney would giveaway trips by simply responding to an email, or Bill Gates sending money to people who kept an email chain letter moving through cyberspace? There are many of these email hoaxes floating around the Internet at any given time.
Urban legends are stories that are either funny and/or contain horrifying content that may or may not be true. They spread quickly, and often have many different variants.
Most urban legends are false -- but some are true.
Email urban legends and email hoaxes (which are what we focus on here) usually tell recipients to forward the email to everyone they know. In fact, that's one of the tell-tale signs that you have a false urban legend or hoax!
Chain letters are all too familiar to most email users. Emails instructing recipients to 'forward to 10 other people', or even 'forward to everyone you know', have been circulating since the early days of the internet. Many of them are little changed since that time, while some introduce new themes and fresh topics.
Some carry serious messages and tragic stories, often accompanied by improbable claims that money will somehow be raised for the subject of the story, courtesy of some kind philanthropist or corporation. Some promise incredible rewards for those who pass on the message. Some feature full-blown scams, instructing recipients to pass on personal data or even cash as part of the process. Others spread unlikely urban myths and hoaxes, many of which have featured computer viruses.
The common attribute of all these emails is the appeal to forward the message to many people. However, such an action - no matter how well-meaning - is not helpful.
The following is a list of the most common virus hoaxes. Many of these continue to circulate, often in modified form with dates, virus names and vulnerabilities updated to fit in with the times.
- AIDS virus
- An Internet flower for you
- A virtual card for you
- AOL monitor
- Budweiser frogs
- Bug's Life/BUGGLST.ZIP
- California/Wobbler
- Celcom screen saver
- Elf bowl
- EMI/Time Warner
- Frog in a blender
- Happy New Year
- Honda
100.05
Contributing Source:
Hoaxbusters
4/10/08
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