Bin Laden starts terror on the net, again!
It seems like the Taliban is now terrorising our email accounts. Quickly, switch to DEFCON 1!
Here is what I just got per mail, CC’d to a dozen other peeps:
PLEASE INFORM EVERYONE: Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sent and the moment that you open these emails your computer will crash and you will not be able to fix it! If you get an email along the lines of "Osama Bin Laden Captured" or "Osama Hanged" don't open the attachment. Be considerate & send this warning to whomever you know. PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS: It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" the whole hard disc C of your computer. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it. This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.
Now, check here, here and here! (...by the way, this mail has been circulating since July 2004)
This is what I often don’t get. We receive emails that warn of potential viruses, some promise you millions of Nigerian $dollars or ask for you to petition against rape victims and starving children. All I want to say that this here is a perfect example of how the responsibility of net users is diminishing. If it’s on the net it must be true, eh? It takes a minute of searching around to find out that these emails are hoaxes. Granted, it looks scary when this bright red message pops up on your email but the content gives it away.
Use these tools: Google Search or McAfee to double check before swamping please!
UPDATE: Russ and I just decided, the real terrorists are those who forward these hoax emails, not Osama! Bah!
Labels: email, Hoax, Osama Bin Laden, Spam
There
Gregor
The email is the virus. It the oldest most succesful virus. It relies on people to do its work rather than having to read your contact lists and sending itself on. And it chews up bandwidth and time as its curse.
Also, no virus checker stops it. It relies on human discretion.
IITQ
IITQ - thanks for your reply. The problem here is relying on 'human discretion'and this is why I rant about the issue. When reading the content of this mail it becomes clear that its a scam/hoax!Think most people read the first line, panic, and forward...
A couple of days ago I got one of those forwarded emails warning me not to flash my brights at drivers in JHB, because it's some kind of gang signal for a challenge. The email said this was a NEW and worrying trend, a claim apparently supported by the police.
The only problem is that I've received this email before, around ten years ago when I first got internet at home!!!
There's enough scary stuff in the world, without emails like this working people up into a frenzy.
What I want to know is what do the people who make up this silly crap gain? Any ideas?
they must be really bored people!