Top e-mail and Fax Hoaxes

You've probably also received the message warning about an e-mail virus, the 9-0-# phone call, or the message that says the Federal Communications Commission is considering charging for Internet use. They're all fakes. Instead of forwarding them, try using the letter posted at the end of this column!

3 On Your Side collected a list of the top e-mail and fax hoaxes in the country. You'll want to check this page frequently, because we'll be updating this as often as we receive a new hoax.

Nigerian 419 scam: This one turns up in both the e-mail and your regular mailbox. It's a fraud scheme as old as the Internet. In fact, it actually started out in the 1980s as a mail scam. The messages -- pleas for help -- come from exotic places, usually poor countries in Africa like Nigeria. The sender has a substantial sum of money and will give you a cut if only you will help him or her transfer it. This one takes a dose of common sense to figure out. It's as simple as this: If it's too good to be true, it probably is. Despite that, people succumb to this one in astonishing numbers. The hoax itself is extremel pervasive. In fact, 3 On Your Side devoted an entire column to it. Click here to read it.

Call #77 on your cell phone if you think the police officer following you is an imposter: This e-mail share the story of a girl who was being followed by an unmarked police and following her parents advice, called #77 on her cell phone to contact the police dispatcher. In making this call, the girl discovered the officer following her was an imposter -- an man who was actually wanted for rape. This e-mail has some elements of truth to it. It's true that women have been raped by men posing as police officers. The advice offered in the e-mail -- don't pull over in a deserted area -- is sound. While it's true that #77 does immediately connect cell-phone callers to the highway patrol, that's only the case in some states. Arizona is not one of those states. If you suspect something is amiss, the best thing you can do is call 911 and explain the situation to the operator.

JDBGMGR.exe computer virus: This e-mail warns of virulent virus that can wreak all kinds of havoc on your computer hard drive. The message implores you to delete a file named jdbgmgr.exe. You'll know it by its teddy bear icon. You'll find explicit instructions on how to get rid this alleged virus, which supposedly transmits itself through e-mail address books. Chances are if you have Windows and you search your hard drive for jdbgmgr.exe, you'll find it and its teddy bear. It's the Java Debug Manager program used by the Microsoft Java runtime engine. This file is included as part of a standard Windows installation. If you did delete, don't stress. Unless you're a Java developer, you probably won't even miss it.

Women abducted: This e-mail warns women about a new gang initiation in which prospective members sneak into a woman's car while she's pumping gas so he can kidnap and murder her. The supposed requirement is for the gang member to bring back a woman's body part. This e-mail is signed by a "training director" and the "U.S. Army Military Police School." While the advice given -- be aware of your surroundings, lock your car and check the back seat and undercarriage of your car -- is sound, the e-mail itself has no authenticity. You do not need to "forward it to everyone you know." Let the person who sent it to you know that it's just another hoax and provide them the link to this page.

Federal bill 602P: This one starts out by saying, "I guess the warnings were true. Federal Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government to charge 5 cents on every delivered e-mail." This is just a new twist on an old rumor, but just as the rumor was a hoax, so is the new angle. The United States Postal Service is not going to charge for e-mail. Nobody could do it. Do not pass it on and respond to the sender with a note that this was, and still is, a hoax.

Klingerman virus: This one supposedly comes in your real mailbox, not your e-mail. Titled, "A Gift from the Klingerman Foundation," it's a small sponge in a blue envelope. The panicked warning tells us the sponge is infected with dysentery and that seven of 23 victims have already died. Don't believe this one. Neither the Centers for Disease Control nor the United States Postal Service have any such reports.

Spunkball warning: Please keep all windows rolled up when stopped at traffic lights, as only cars with windows down are being targeted. Groups of teenagers have been caught, in alarming numbers, playing a new and dangerous game called Spunkball.

Spunkball consists of a group of teens in a car pulling up to a stop light and looking around for a car stopped near by with an open window. When one is spotted, an object wrapped in aluminum foil is thrown through the open window. On the outside of the foil is attatched a small fire cracker with a lit fuse. When the fire cracker explodes, it shreds the foil and the rag is ignited, causing a large flame that may catch the interior of the car on fire.

Spunkball playing has already claimed two lives, caused uncountable burn injuries, and thousands of dollars in damage to automobiles. The best defense, say authorities, is to keep all windows rolled up when stopped at traffic lights, as only cars with windows down are being targeted.

If you are at a redlight and hear a shout of "Spunkball," and notice something come flying in your window, the best thing to do is to have all passengers immediatly exit the vehichle. Do not try to retrieve the object, as it will ignite once the fire cracker explodes.

Instant-messenger charges: This e-mail is being targeted toward America Online and Instant Messager users. It claims America Online is going to begin charging as much as $15 per month for the Instant Message service, which is currently free.

Supposedly, forwarding the e-mail is a "vote" and if 100,000 people receive it, AOL will drop its plans to charge. Think about it. How would AOL know how many people receive the e-mail? Or more importantly, 100,000 people is not a lot when you consider that AOL claims more than 12 million subscribers! Delete this one too.

Don't flash those headlights: As you're driving at night, you see a car with the headlights off. Common courtesy and basic driver's education tell you to flash your lights to notify the other driver. This warning tells you not to do that very thing. Supposedly, D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is circulating a flier telling folks this is a gang initiation ruse and that the driver in the other car will turn around, pursue you and shoot at your vehicle! D.A.R.E. denies any such flier. None of the police agencies in town report this is happening. Likewise, law enforcement in California has no reliable reports of this either, leading everyone to believe it's another hoax.

Needles will stick you: Another hoax reports drug dealers are leaving contaminated needles in movie theater seats and in pay phone coin return slots. Not true.

Aspartame causes multiple sclerosis: This one could be the most frightening. Reports spread on the Internet say aspartame (Nutrasweet) causes M.S.-like symptoms. This was also someone's sad idea of a joke.

Gerber settlement: There is no public settlement. Your kids are not going to get a $500 savings bond. Don't send their birth certificates or social security numbers. This one has a nugget of truth to it, though. There was a settlement involving price fixing of baby food. Some formula companies were ordered to provide formula to food banks and charities and there was a P.O. box in Minnesota, but the P.O. box was closed two years ago.

Nike shoes: This one offers a pair of free Nike shoes for every pair of running shoes you send to Nike's headquarters. The company is supposedly working on a recycling project for which they will use the old tennies. Nike has no such project and will not send you any shoes.

Cancer e-mail: A 7-year-old girl has cancer. For every person to whom you forward this e-mail, three cents goes to the American Cancer Society's research department. Not true. The ACS does not do such marketing and has no record of this girl.

9-0-#: The e-mail reads, "Beware! Cons can get control of your phone by calling you and asking you to dial 9-0-#. Then, they make unauthorized charges on your dime." This one also has a bit of truth. Some older phone systems are susceptible, but only at businesses, not homes. AT&T says it hasn't happened in years.

VA hospital benefits: This warning tells recipients veterans are in danger of losing all benefits after Oct. 1, 1998. The truth is, veterans who have not been treated at a Veterans Affairs hospital since 1996 will not be automatically enrolled for future benefits, but they will still be allowed to enroll at any time.

Business travelers -- organ transplants: This warning is the most sinister. It says business travelers in southern United States cities have reported going home from a bar or party with a stranger, only to wake up the next morning in a bathtub of ice, with their kidneys missing! The warning comes with supposed authentication from emergency-room physicians or paramedics. There is no truth to this one. Check out www.mardigrasday.com for more information.

Bill Gates e-mail: Bill Gates wrote an e-mail tracing program and the first 1,000 responses will each get paid $1,000. False!

FCC and Internet charges: This one says the Federal Communications Commission is considering imposing per-minute charges for Internet access. "RUSH your protest to the agency! We must bombard them with e-mail!" Again, this was one proposal the FCC considered two years ago, but dropped it before taking any public comment.

Shampoo causes cancer: An e-mail says sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate, found in shampoos, cause cancer. The Cosmetic Toiletry and Fragrance Association out of Washington, DC, says it's unsubstantiated.

Get free M&M's: The e-mail says if you pass it on to 2,000 other people, you'll get free M&M's. Not true, says M&M's maker Mars, which is based out of New Jersey, not Pennsylvania as the e-mail suggests.

Get free clothing from the GAP: Again, if you pass that e-mail onto other people, you'll get free merchandise. GAP says it's totally false and they're trying to figure out who started the false e-mail.

Waterproof sunscreen causes blindness: The e-mail says little 2-year-old Zack became blind after waterproof sunscreen got into his eyes. Not true, says the American Academy of Opthamology out of Washington, DC. In fact, the academy says it's important to have children wear sunscreen to protect their skin.

Antiperspirant causes breast cancer: The e-mail suggests that antiperspirant causes breast cancer. The American Cancer Society says there is no scientific evidence of that.

Get a $25 gift certificate free from Abercrombie & Fitch: Again, if you forward that e-mail, you'll get a certificate. The e-mail even talks about "Amber," the company's founder. We talked with Abercrombie & Fitch out of Ohio. The e-mail is a lie and the founder's names are David Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch.

Costa Rican bananas will eat your flesh: This one warns that bananas from Costa Rica are infected with necrotizing fasciitis, also known as the flesh-eating bacteria. The extremely rare bacteria doesn't live on fruit and can't be spread this way.

What to do

When you get one of these e-mails, don't forward it! Instead, we suggest you reply to all the senders with this letter, written by an unknown person with a wicked/keen sense of humor:

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 the computers get together and distribute the $250 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 only 10 people 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 mail and you will receive four 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.