Rumor Control

What's this about?

I threw this page together very quickly in an attempt to combat e-mail hoaxes that come the way of my company and the ISP it operates. It started out small, but is growing bit by bit, thanks to the help I've gotten from others who've been reading this page.

It all boils down to this: If you receive an e-mail that warns you of a dangerous e-mail virus, or tells you that passing the e-mail on will get you something for free (like buckets of money), you have probably just become the unwitting victim of a chain-letter e-mail hoax. As this page grows, hopefully it will help you learn to identify such hoaxes before you unwittingly perpetuate them yourself.

What's so wrong with a little chain letter?

Little chain letters turn into big chain letters. They grow exponentially as one person passes a copy on to 10 of their friends, then each of those people passes it on to 10 of their friends, and so on. They waste bandwidth and slow down all of our e-mail as a result. Worst of all, they're virtually never true!

If that isn't enough to convince you, be aware that many Internet services forbid chain letters. You can actually lose your access if you pass them on! For proof, check out the service agreements for these popular services:

• EarthLink
• Excite
• Hotmail (unable to make a hyperlink)
• Juno
• Lycos
• Yahoo!

Specific discovered hoaxes

Whenever I get a copy of a new e-mail hoax, I include it here as soon as possible. Unless otherwise noted, all of these are guaranteed to be hoaxes. E-mail addresses and phone numbers have been obscured to protect the innocent (or ignorant).

Please note that anything not listed here may still be a hoax; I may simply not have received a copy yet. When in doubt, I recommend referring to the About.com Urban Legends Guide's list of current net hoaxes. Also see "Things to look for" below to learn the classic earmarks of an e-mail hoax.

Here's a quick outline, if you want to skip ahead:

• E-mail tracking
• Computer viruses
• Dying/missing children
• Other hoaxes
• Outdated hoaxes

E-mail tracking

These promise you money or something of value just for helping test some great new technology that tracks how far an e-mail goes. Now, on earlier versions of this page, I used to say that there was no such thing. But thanks to HTML, the Web, and a notoriously insecure mail application or two, it is possible to track e-mail using so-called "Web bugs."

Would a company be willing to give away lucrative offers of free goods just for helping them test their Web-bugging system? Of course not. No company would be willing to shell out the amount of money that would be required to compensate everybody for such a test--not even Microsoft, which in fact was the original victim of this hoax.

Nevertheless, so many imitations of the old get-$1000-from-Bill-Gates story have sprung up that they deserve a section of their own. Here are the mail-tracking hoaxes I have personally spotted:

• Free Coca-Cola -- "This is a sales promotion to get our name out to young people around the world." Name me one living creature that hasn't had the Coca-Cola brand name pounded into its skull. Anyway, About.com's Urban Legends Guide confirms it's "not the real thing." So does this official denial from the Coca-Cola Company.
• Intel/AOL merger and mail-tracking test -- A very slight variation of the Microsoft/AOL merger hoax (which is listed below).
• New Honda hoax -- Back when this sort of hoax started, it seemed semi-believable that the devious minds at Microsoft could come up with an e-mail tracking program. But marketing wonks at Honda pulling off the same feat? If that doesn't seem ridiculous to you, the About.com Urban Legends Guide will convince you. No? How about an official denial from Honda itself?
• Microsoft/AOL merger and mail-tracking test -- Never mind the fact that Microsoft and AOL couldn't be further away from a merger... But if you still need convincing, here comes the About.com Urban Legends Guide to the rescue again.
• Free Gap clothing -- Yet another twist on the classic e-mail tracking hoax. The About.com Urban Legends Guide has some choice words, and also throws in his "'Email Tracker' Hit Parade."
• Microsoft mail-tracking test -- Yet another variation on a very old and tiresome hoax.
• Disney free-trip hoax -- A variation on the Bill Gates hoax. (More info from CIAC and from About.com.)

Computer viruses

A dangerous new virus is spreading through e-mail! If you see a message that says (insert innocuous subject line you might see every day here), don't open it or your computer will become infected!!

Sound ridiculous? It used to be. But the emergence of viruses like Melissa has changed the landscape. Probably the worst damage that has been done by Melissa and its ilk, however, is the further confusion created in the minds of everyday, non-geek computer users. "What can (or can't) a virus do? What if I hear about a new virus? Isn't it best to warn everyone I know about a virus, just in case it's real?"

Nuh-uh. Nine times out of 10, a virus warning is just a hoax. Before you hit that "forward" button, it's always a good idea to check F-Secure's hoax warnings page. If in doubt, do absolutely nothing. Any ISP or organization with a network administration team worth its salt will warn its Internet users about real, honest-to-gosh viruses that pose an immediate threat.

For a great source of level-headed information on viruses in general, see Rob Rosenberger's Vmyths.com.

Hoaxes I've caught in the wild:

• AIDS computer virus -- I can assure you, a computer virus has not yet been created that has the capability of infecting devices like mice and speakers that aren't themselves computers. If you don't believe me, here's what F-Secure has to say. Also see our earlier reference to the "Win a Holiday" virus.
• Celcom/CellSaver screen saver, "Sandman," "Win A Holiday" virus, "Join the Crew/Penpals" virus -- A veritable hoax chow mein. As you've probably already guessed, F-Secure lists them all as hoaxes, but to save you the trouble, here is a link for each: Celcom/CellSaver, Sandman, Win A Holiday, Join the Crew/Penpals.
• Elf Bowling Trojan horse/"virus" -- Various warnings about this program (some more dire than this one) say that this cute but naughty game is a ticking time bomb. Wrong. It's safe as long as you scan it for viruses like any other program you get in e-mail (you do scan for viruses, don't you?). Let F-Secure put your fears to rest.
• Lump of Coal virus -- You'd better not shout, you'd better not cry, you'd better not pass this on because it's a hoax. F-Secure says so.
• Wobbler virus (and a variant) -- This warns you about receiving an infected file named California. F-Secure says it's a hoax.
• "A Bug's Life" screen saver virus -- This is a variant of a message that was itself a combined variant of several other hoaxes. Stiller Research has the goods on this hoax's predecessor.
• It-Takes-Guts-To-Say-Jesus virus -- Symantec refutes this.

Dying/missing children

Some of these are based on the e-mail tracking idea: "For every person you forward this to, Charity X will get 5 cents!" (5 cents from whom, the E-Mail Fairy?) Every once in a while, an actual child is involved, but even after the child is no longer dying or missing, the chain letter continues burning up bandwidth for months or years.

• "Krystava Patients Schmidt," missing child -- No, she's no longer missing. She was found after two days. No need to contact Mounds View police; they already know. This info comes courtesy of the About.com Urban Legends Guide.
• Kalin Relek chain letter -- The parade continues. About.com's Urban Legends Guide says there is no Kalin Relek.
• Dave Matthews chain letter to save a dying child -- This one isn't even worth my time trying to refute. It's so completely and obviously a hoax. If you fall for this one, I'm sorry, but you're a chump.
• Amy Bruce/Make-A-Wish chain letter -- Of all the dying-child hoaxes out there, this one's too much. How could anyone fall for this one? She's a 7-year-old with a brain tumor but writes at a high-school-English level? Please. Here's a comment from the Make-A-Wish Foundation itself. (I may send them a donation just because I feel so sorry for them having to put up with hooey like this.)
• Kelsey Brooke Jones, missing child -- A real child who was really missing--for about two hours. The parents started the chain letter but never sent out another one saying they'd found Kelsey. Read notes from About.com's Urban Legends Guide.
• Anna/Liz/Jada Cohen chain letter -- A new variation on the classic dying-child hoax.
• David "Darren" Bucklew/National Diesese [sic] Society chain letter -- Dying-child hoaxes make perennial appearances on the Net. This one is itself derived from a similar hoax with the name "Timothy Flyte" on it; here are some words of wisdom from the About.com Urban Legends Guide.

Other hoaxes

Here are other, uncategorized hoaxes and rumors.

• HIV-infected needles in pop machines -- Yet another variant on the old drug-needles-in-pay-phones urban legend. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should put your fears, if any, to rest.
• AOL plans for Instant Messenger access charge -- This appears to be a perennial hoax where only the date changes. About.com's Urban Legends Guide has seen it all.
• Pop-up video chain letter -- Forward it enough times and a funny video pops up on your screen? About.com's Urban Legends Guide ponders the possibilities.
• Dogs blinded by Baytril (rumor) -- Bayer does indeed make a veterinary antibiotic called Baytril, generic name enrofloxacin. PetEducation.com has information on the drug. Under "Contraindications/Warnings," it states: "Do not exceed 2.3 mg/pound per day in cats. Higher doses can result in altered vision or blindness." Note this says "cats," not "dogs." There are a number of other warnings, but this is all standard information that a veterinarian would use to determine the appropriateness of a prescription. I've not been able to find anything authoritative about enrofloxacin causing blindness in dogs, but I will update this entry if I do.
• AOL user profile crashes computers -- Something about AOL breeds both gullible people and pranksters who prey on them. I don't have anything to confirm whether this is a hoax, but it has one of the classic earmarks: "...pass this to as many people as you can." I don't have a lot of faith in AOL personally, but I do have faith that their service would not be so broken as to allow someone to create a user profile that wreaks as much damage as is claimed here.
• Gas-pump slashers/gang initiation rite -- Fusing several urban legends into one. Read more from About.com's Urban Legends Guide (who actually found two different variants).
• Bananas carrying "flesh-eating" bacteria -- Since this hoax is helpful enough to cite the Center for Disease Control as a source, we can go to their Web site and see what they have to say. As always, the About.com Urban Legends Guide is on top of things.
• Cockroach eggs in Taco Bell food & rat urine on soda pop cans -- New combo hoax. The About.com Urban Legends Guide has already covered the cockroach-egg hoax and the rat-urine hoax.
• Five-cent surcharge on e-mail -- Where to begin with this one? There is no Senate Bill 602P (U.S. Senate Bills aren't numbered that way). There is no Congressman Tony Schnell. A search on AT&T's AnyWho shows that there is neither an attorney named Richard Stepp nor a law firm named Berger, Stepp and Gorman in Vienna, Virginia. The Washingtonian is an actual publication, but has posted an official statement denying that they wrote such an editorial or even published a "March 6, 1999" issue. Finally, the U.S. Postal Service has posted an official denial of its own. Don't feel bad if you've been duped by this one; it's even fooled two people who should have known better: Rick Lazio and Hillary Clinton, New York candidates for the U.S. Senate. (No comment from WCBS-TV on whether debate moderator Marcia Kramer was aware of the hoax's nature.)
• Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe -- This is another old legend. The story goes that someone was ripped off by Neiman Marcus for this recipe to the tune of $250. Actually, Neiman Marcus never sold cookies until this urban legend gave them the inspiration to do so. The About.com Urban Legends Guide wrote this up a long time ago.
• Atheists and the FCC -- A new twist on an old story: Madalyn Murray O'Hair (a.k.a. "Madelin Murray O'Hare") wants the FCC to ban Christian programming! Even ban Touched By an Angel! As appealing as that last thought is to me, it is my duty to tell you that it's a hoax. If you don't believe me, read what the Urban Legends Reference Pages have to say. If you don't believe them, maybe you'll believe the FCC itself.
• AOL Protection Racket -- A chain letter stating that AOL hackers will protect you from alleged forthcoming AOL monitoring if you pass it on... and that they'll infect your account with a virus if you don't! At least one AOL user was smart enough to recognize this thinly-veiled hoax and send it to Rumor Control.
• Dallas movie theater AIDS story -- A new twist on an old story (info from the About.com Urban Legends Guide)
• Aspartame warning -- This is very well refuted by the About.com Urban Legends Guide.
• Inside Edition mall-abduction scam story -- Inside Edition never aired such a story, says About.com's Urban Legends Guide.
• Kenneth Starr quote -- An almost perfectly ironic quote from a 60 Minutes interview? Fake, says the About.com Urban Legends Guide.

Outdated hoaxes

These contain dated information and are not likely to be circulated again in the forms seen here. But there is always the chance they will mutate into something else someday. And they still make for some fun reading.

• "Super-bright" full moon of December 22, 1999 -- You may have received an e-mail about this unusual celestial occurrence. Yes, it's unusual for a moon to be both full and at perigee at the same time, but (as many no doubt witnessed) it doesn't make the moon "super-bright," and it's actually happened twice before in the century. The About.Com Urban Legends Guide shares his notes and links. Oh, there apparently was a deadly attack on U.S. soldiers by Native Americans on December 21, 1866 (read more here), and the moon was both full and at perigee then, but it seems to have been nothing more than coincidence.
• MS Windows Y2K fix -- Rumor Control had the scoop on this hoax! But now you can read confirmation from the About.com Urban Legends Guide. You can even read Microsoft's official word on the hoax if you're not convinced.
• MonsterBook.com stock giveaway -- Not exactly a hoax, but the chain letters were NOT authorized by MonsterBook.

Things to look for

Mistrust anything that says things like:

• "This is for real!" or "This is not a joke!" (Um, right. "I am not a wolf! See? I look like a sheep!")
• "Do not open any e-mail with this subject line . . ." (It's not possible to activate a virus simply by reading an e-mail, only by activating a file attachment in an e-mail. Some insecure mail readers will "helpfully" open attachments automatically, though.)
• "Organization X will contribute 5 cents to a charitable cause for every copy of this message that gets passed on." (Organization X would be bankrupted pretty quickly if this were possible.)
• "Company X will send you something really cool/valuable if enough copies of this message get passed on." (Company X would be bankrupted pretty quickly if this were possible.)
• "Please pass this on." (You're being invited to perpetuate the chain. Don't!!)

For more complete information, check out some of the links below.

More information

Here are good places on the Web to go for more information related to e-mail hoaxes.

• Current Internet Hoaxes -- You are required to bookmark this; do it now. It's all described in friendly, colorful style by the About.com Guide to Urban Legends and Folklore.
• F-Secure (formerly Data Fellows) Hoax Warnings -- Another excellent resource you should bookmark. Its focus is computer virus hoaxes. There's also a list sorted by date.
• CC: Contagious Correction -- a great form letter you can send to friends who e-mail hoaxes to you; written by self-professed "thought contagion analyst" Aaron Lynch
• Vmyths.com (formerly the Computer Virus Myths page) -- Rob Rosenberger is the great crusader against virus hoaxes; his site has much useful information and news
• Internet Hoaxes and Internet Chain Letters (CIAC) -- detailed information on specific popular e-mail hoaxes
• Yahoo : Society and Culture : Mythology and Folklore : Urban Legends : Computer Viruses
• Get an offer for $1000 from Bill Gates? Yes, it's a hoax. Get the story straight from the horse's mouth.

History

Here are changes made to this page, from newest to oldest.

2000

October 11: Added a new "Dying/missing children" section, and began some much-needed catching-up on a backlog of submissions. Added a variant of the Wobbler virus hoax, the free Coca-Cola hoax, the Kalin Relek hoax, the bananas/"flesh-eating" bacteria hoax, the gas-pump slashers/gang initiation rite hoax, the AOL-user-profile-crashing-computers rumor, the dogs-blinded-by-Baytril rumor, the pop-up video chain letter hoax, the AOL Instant Messenger access charge hoax, the Krystava Patients Schmidt story, and the HIV-infected-needles-in-pop-machines hoax.

October 9: Added a link about U.S. Senate (New York) candidates Rick Lazio and Hillary Clinton being fooled by the five-cent-e-mail-tax hoax.

October 6: New general information about e-mail tracking "Web bugs." New "Computer viruses" and "Outdated hoaxes" sections. Updated "Data Fellows" references to "F-Secure" (including URLs) to reflect their name change. Did likewise for Vmyths.com, formerly the Computer Virus Myths page. Revived a link to Melissa. Fixed About.com's links because they restructured their site yet again. Fixed a few other broken links. Rewrote the Kelsey Brooke Jones entry.

February 29: Added info on these hoaxes: Five-cent surcharge on e-mail, Cockroach eggs in Taco Bell food & rat urine on soda pop cans, Dave Matthews chain letter to save a dying child, AIDS computer virus. Reorganized this "History" section. Added a link for Touched By an Angel.

1999

December 28: Added info on these hoaxes: Celcom/CellSaver screen saver, "Sandman," "Win A Holiday" virus, "Join the Crew/Penpals" virus, "Super-bright" full moon of December 22.

December 27: Reworded the "Things to look for" section. Added the "What's so wrong with a little chain letter?" section. Added the following hoaxes: Amy Bruce/Make-A-Wish chain letter, AOL Protection Racket, Atheists and the FCC, Intel/AOL merger and mail-tracking test, Elf Bowling Trojan horse/"virus", Neiman Marcus cookie recipe. Touched up the layout by making hoax names "strong" (in the HTML sense).

November 29: Fixed all of the About.com links again.

November 7: Added the new Honda hoax.

November 1: Added the Kelsey Brooke Jones missing child hoax. Fixed up all links to About.com articles to conform to their apparently preferred URLs.

October 6: Spun off the "e-mail tracking" hoaxes to their own little section, to which is added the Microsoft/AOL merger and mail-tracking test hoax.

October 4: Added the Lump of Coal virus and a link to the Data Fellows Hoax Warning pages.

August 27: Added About.com and Microsoft references for the MS Windows Y2K "fix."

August 4: Added the MS Windows Y2K "fix."

August 2: Added the Free-Gap-clothing hoax.

July 27: Took care of some broken links.

June 14: Added the Anna/Liz/Jada Cohen chain letter, the Wobbler virus hoax, and the Microsoft mail-tracking hoax. Minor revisions to the introduction.

May 25: Changed all Mining Co. references to About.com. Made a bunch of structural changes in recognition of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

April 30: Added the "A Bug's Life" screen saver virus hoax.

March 30: Added the David "Darren" Bucklew chain letter. Added yet another link to Mining Co.'s list of current net hoaxes so people know what a great resource it is. Revised the info about the Melissa virus.

March 28: Added info about the (real?!?) Melissa virus.

March 26: Added the MonsterBook.com stock giveaway and Aaron Lynch's "Contagious Correction." Updated the Mining Co. link for the Dallas movie theater AIDS story.

March 1: Added the Dallas movie theater AIDS hoax.

February 15: Added the It-Takes-Guts-To-Say-Jesus virus hoax.

January 12: Added the aspartame warning hoax.

1998

December 22: Added the mall-abduction scam story and related links.

September 30: Added links for the fake Kenneth Starr quote.

August 28: Created the Rumor Control page from a small list of links I originally kept on my office page. Added a few links to Mining Co.

Created and maintained by Larry Gilbert