Issue 76 - Hoax-Slayer Newsletter

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This month in Hoax-Slayer:

• Email Request to Adopt Free Black Lab Puppies
• Photos of Old Car Collection Found in Portugal Barn
• Ministry Of Finance Non Residential Tax Lottery Scam
• The Hacker's Nightmare - Outstanding Computer Security Guidebook
• Polar Bear Playing With Husky Photographs
• Loan Offer Advance Fee Scams
• Icelift Free Human Hibernation Email Forward
• Men's Room Mural Photograph
• Update: Lead in Lipstick Alert - Cancer Causing Lipstick
• Strongest Dog In The World Photograph
• Giant Alligator Gar Photographs
• Yahoo Account Deletion Hoax
• Snake Inside Computer Photographs
• Hoax-Slayer Humour: FBI Security Announcement
• Links to Other Recent Articles
  
  
  
  

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Summary:
Message claims that 6 black lab puppies rescued from a roadway are in desperate need of new homes.

Status:
May have been true, but the message is now outdated and pointless

Example:(Submitted, October 2007)
Commentary:
This email forward claims that 6 black Labrador puppies found abandoned on a roadway are in desperate need of new homes to avoid a bleak and uncertain future at the hands of "Animal Control". The message includes a photograph of six adorable, blue-eyed puppies.

The claims in the message may have been true when they were originally posted on Craigslist and other online message boards. However, subsequent reports suggest that the puppies have now all been adopted. The original Craigslist post was later removed, possibly because the puppies had already been rehoused. And an article in Connecticut news outlet "The Advocate" notes:

An Atlanta phone number was listed on some of the earliest versions of the message. A call yesterday to the number, associated with a woman named Anne Rule, reveals a recorded message. "The puppies have all been adopted, so please do not leave a message," a woman said.

Moreover, follow-up posts to some of the earlier online messages about the puppies also indicate that they have now found new homes.

Thus, even if the original request was genuine, the continued forwarding of the message is now utterly pointless. The message has now spread all over the world. Some include different contact details than those listed in earlier versions of the message. These contact details are supposedly included to allow recipients to find out more information about the puppies. However, at least some of the later contact details listed in the messages are invalid.

Others, like the example included here, have no specific contact details at all other than the email addresses of those who last forwarded the message. Copies of the email that are currently circulating may have already been forwarded thousands of times, so it would be very difficult to reliably track back to the original sender to find out more information about the puppies. And, since the original sender may well have simply copied and pasted the message from an online message board, even he or she might not have any accurate information about the current status of these pups.

The message does not include a specific location where the puppies were found. Thus, recipients far, far away from the actual location of the dogs may assume that they were discovered locally. A version of the plea is circulating via email in Australia and has been posted on Asia message boards. Even if the animals were still in need of new homes, it would be an impractically expensive and lengthy process for an animal-lover half way across the planet to adopt one.

The date that the puppies were found is also not included in the message. Therefore, the message is likely to continue circulating indefinitely since many recipients will assume that the puppies were only recently rescued. A hoax email that claimed a litter of Golden Retriever puppies would be put down if new homes were not found urgently continues to hit inboxes years after it first began circulating.

Emails about children or animals in need of help, especially those that include photographs, are apt to have well-meaning recipients clicking the "forward" button without due forethought. It is always wise to check the status of such pleas for help before sending them on. Pointless and outdated messages such as this one do no more than needlessly clutter inboxes and, in some cases, waste the time of animal rescue organization staff who must field endless enquires about supposedly homeless animals.

References:
E-mail is the tail wagging a tale of dogs
Lab Puppies need rescuing
Free Golden Retriever Puppies Hoax
Puppy Adoption Email Leads to Dead Ends

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Summary:
Email with attached photographs of an extensive collection of valuable old cars claims that a New York man discovered the vehicles locked in a barn on a property he bought in Portugal.

Status:
Photographs are genuine but the description is untrue.

Example:(Submitted, September 2007)
Commentary:
The photographs that travel with this email forward show an extensive collection of beautiful but dusty and neglected old vehicles parked almost bumper to bumper in a large building. Some bandwidth munching versions of the message include a dozen or more photographs. Others, such as the one included above, show only one or two photographs but include a link to a website that displays the entire photo series.

While the photographs are genuine, the text in the email explaining their origin is untrue. There was no retired New Yorker who came across an incredible, and totally unexpected, windfall when he broke open the welded doors of an old barn on his newly acquired Portuguese property. Instead, there is a more mundane, but much more believable explanation.

Journalist Tom Cotter researched the story and finally identified the photographer as Manuel Menezes Morais. Morais was contracted to take photographs of the cars by their owner. Due to the wishes of the owner, Morais was unable to reveal exact details of the barn's location or the owner's name, but he did give Tom Cotter some general information about the origin of the vehicle collection. In an article about the cars for Sports Car Market Magazine, Tom Cotter notes:

The owner of the cars was a car dealer in the 1970s and 1980s, and decided to save the more interesting cars that came through his doors. When the barn was full, he padlocked and "soldered" the doors shut. (Perhaps welding was too permanent.)

Web sites varied on the number of cars: 58, 100, and 180 were speculated. According to Morais, there are 180 cars in the barn.

Cotter's research indicates that the cars are probably located in an area near Lisbon, in Portugal.

Thus, it seems that the "retired New Yorker" cover story is no more than a fictional embellishment. The story may have evolved out of an earlier description of the photographs that simply asked recipients to imagine what it would be like to acquire a piece of land and then subsequently discover a treasure trove of old cars hidden in a barn on the property:

ok, so imagine you live in portugal and your moving house. you find a lovely farm house set in a decent plot of land. the place has been empty for 15 years!

whilst exploring your new property you find a large barn in the trees. the door is padlocked shut and its all rusted solid. so you grind the padlock open.........

It is quite common for pranksters to invent a fanciful tale to go with a particularly compelling set of photographs. In many cases, including this one, such foolish and fictional embellishments seem redundant. Photographs like these speak for themselves and need no tall stories to enhance their impact.



References:
Barnfinds Portugal
Portuguese Barn Find: Fact or Fiction?

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Summary:
Message, ostensibly from the "Ministry Of Finance" in the UK, claims that the recipient must pay Non Residential Tax before receiving supposed winnings from an international lottery (Full commentary below).

Status:
False - Part of an international lottery scam.

Example:(Submitted, October 2007)
Commentary:
Lottery scammers sometimes use quite elaborate ruses to try to convince their potential victims that they must pay fees in advance before the supposed "winnings" can be released.

In the case discussed here (reconstructed from a number of reader submissions), the scammers have first sent a typical lottery scam email that claims their victim has won £1,000,000 in the UK National Lottery. After the victim has fallen for this initial "bait" email and replied as instructed, he has then received several more messages from the scammers that supposedly give details and further instructions about how and when the "winnings" will be delivered. Finally, the victim was sent another email assuring him that the £1,000,000 was about to be transferred to his account.

Suddenly, the victim received an official-looking email that purported to be from the "Ministry Of Finance". This message claimed that the Ministry had discovered that £1,000,000 was about to be sent to the victim but had put an immediate stop-order on the transfer until a "Non Residential Tax" had been paid. The message informed the victim that he must remit £500 to cover this tax and have the stop-order lifted. He was instructed to contact an agent from the Ministry Of Finance for more payment details. After contacting the agent as requested, he received the following reply:

Subject: MINISTRY OF FINANCE PAYMENT GUIDELINE

The Directorate-General for Tax and Customs PolicyMajor Companies/Individuals Tax Unit Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA

Our Ref: MF/UK/CB-XX-02/08
RE: Procurement of Non residential tax Certificate.

You are to make payment to this office via our account officer.The preferred and fastest method of payment is through WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER. Locate any outlet near you and make the payment.

Immediately we confirm the receipt of the payment, your Non residential Tax Clearance Certificate will be processed and given to you in less than 24 hrs from the time of receipt of payment which you will inturn forward to the CITI BANK to enable the transfer process of your funds be completed.

The fee for the Certificate as earlier said is 0.05% of your funds which is 500 GBP.

To make payment find below the payment guildlines which should be made through WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER to our account officer:

RECEIVER'S NAME: MR.JOHNSON MOORE.
RECEIVER'S ADDRESS: Buckingham Palace, London SW1A
AMOUNT SENT:

As soon as you have made the payment, kindly send to us via email the scanned payment slip.
Also write through email the following which is on your slip:

Sender's Name:
Amount Sent:
MTCN:
Test question and answer if any:

Immediately we confirm the receipt of this, your Non residential tax clearance certificate will be prepared and given to you for you to go ahead and claim your funds.

Note:The charges cannot be Deducted from your winnings.This is in accordance with section 13(1)(n) of the National Gambling Act as adopted in 1993 and amended on 3RD July 1996 by the constitutional assembly.This is to protect winners and to avoid misappropriation of funds and win and win Situations.

Failure by you to abide to the lay down procedures and regulations, the remittance of the fund would be stopped with immediate effect. Therefore, the CITIBANK UNITED KINGDOM where hereby directed to stop further payment modalities of the above-mentioned until a TAX CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE is issued for the transfer of the said Funds.

Thanks in advance for your anticipated co-operation.

Yours Sincerely,
Mr.Smith Johnson (Esq.)
MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT

Thus, the victim was tricked into believing that the tax fee request was not from the lottery organization who initially contacted him, but from a completely separate government department. A seemingly official fee request from a government department might seem more legitimate and believable than a similar request from those supposedly organizing the lottery.

Of course, in reality, all of the emails were sent by the same scammer posing as different entities. It is not difficult to identify the "official" email as fraudulent. Firstly, although the message is supposedly from a UK government department, it includes a logo belonging to the Ministry of Finance in Thailand. Secondly, government departments DO NOT use free Yahoo email addresses. Thirdly, if the lottery organization was legitimate, it would already be aware of any tax obligations and would have mechanisms in place to deal with them long before a government department was forced to impose an emergency stop-order. Fourthly, tax and finance matters in the UK are handled by departments such as HM Revenue & Customs, HM Treasury, or the Financial Services Authority, not by the "Ministry of Finance". Nor do any of these departments operate out of Buckingham Palace (The Queen might not be amused).

Any email, fax or surface-mail letter that claims that you have won money in an international lottery that you have never entered is quite likely to be a scam. Do not be fooled by follow-up messages that pretend to be from third parties such as government departments or financial institutions as these messages are quite likely to be part of the same elaborate scam. In a similar ruse, an email purporting to be from the FBI claimed that a previous Microsoft lottery notification sent to the recipient had been checked and found to be genuine.

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One of the great advantages of "The Hacker's Nightmare" is that it is presented in plain English and even inexperienced computer users should have no problems understanding and implementing the advice it contains. The book unfolds as a step-by-step tutorial that shows you how to secure your computer and practice safe and efficient computing. The book eloquently explains why a particular computer security or safety procedure is necessary. It then supplies detailed instructions about how to implement the procedure. For example, if the author, Bill Hely, recommends that readers install a particular program, he explains why the software is necessary as well as how to download, install and configure it. While the book is easy to understand, it does not drown the reader in jargon or unnecessary technical details and it does thoroughly cover a wide range of computer security and safety issues.

Bill Hely writes very well, and he has incorporated a great many screen shots and illustrations that make it quite simple to follow the instructions he provides. The book is in PDF, so that you can download and begin reading immediately after purchase.

Regardless of whether you are a new computer user running a single machine, you maintain a home network for your family or you are responsible for computers in a business environment, this book can help you implement a very high level of computer security. What's more, "The Hacker's Nightmare" gives you the knowledge to achieve this high level of computer security without the need to outlay large fees for professional security consultants or highly priced software.

Millions of computers around the world run virtually unprotected from hackers, worms, viruses, trojans, spyware, spammers, scammers and all manner of heinous cyber-scum. The good news is that even the most inexperienced computer user can very effectively take control of all the threats listed above by implementing the free or inexpensive computer security methods outlined in "The Hacker's Nightmare". Unfortunately, many people still think that they do not really need to secure their computers or that good computer security is "too hard" or "too expensive" for "ordinary" computer users. "The Hacker's Nightmare" very effectively lays all these dangerous myths to rest.

Many computer users who think they have adequate computer security in place might be shocked to find out how vulnerable their systems really are. If every Windows computer user read and implemented the knowledge contained in "The Hacker's Nightmare", the Internet would be a much safer and more productive environment in which to work and play. I am proud to be an affiliate for "The Hacker's Nightmare", and I unreservedly recommend this book for all those who want to ensure that their computers and their information remains safe and secure.

As noted above, I am an affiliate for "The Hacker's Nightmare". For more information please refer to my Affiliate Marketing Policy

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Summary:
Email forward features a series of photographs showing a wild polar bear playing with a husky sled dog.

Status:
True

Example:(Submitted, October 2007)
Commentary:
These photographs of a wild polar bear apparently playing with a sled dog are circulating via email and online. The photographs are genuine and were taken by renowned German wildlife photographer, Norbert Rosing. Rosing has become well known for his remarkable photographs of polar bears of the Canadian Arctic and has visited the region a number of times. Information on Norbert Rosing's biography page notes:

In 1988 he started his still ongoing project: The World of the Polar Bear. It covers the entire Canadian Arctic from Churchill / Manitoba to Pond Inlet and Cambridge Bay in Nunavut. He captured in photographs the life of the Inuit, Muskoxen, Atlantic Walrusses, Whales, the Aurora Borealis and of course the life circle of the Lord of the Arctic, the Polar Bear in which he has become a specialist. Out of this project many articles have been published for several magazines worldwide, including GEO Germany and National Geographic.

The particular sequence of images and the description featured in this email forward were apparently taken from a Speaking of Faith audio and slide show by Dr. Stuart Brown, an expert on animal and human play and founder of the National Institute for Play. The photographs, along with more detailed information, are also published on the Institute's website with the title Why Didn't the Wild Polar Bear eat the Husky?

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Summary:
Unsolicited emails from supposed loan agencies claim that the recipient can borrow money for any purpose at a low interest rate.

Status:
False

Example:(Submitted, September 2007)
Commentary:
Among the garbage that clutters the average email inbox, it is not uncommon to see unsolicited emails offering low interest loans to recipients. Typically, the messages claim that unsecured loans are available for virtually any purpose and urge the recipient to "apply" via email.

The emails are not loan offers at all, but rather just one more version of the ubiquitous "Nigerian" or "419" advance-fee scam. Those who fall for the bait and apply for the offered "loan" will soon receive a reply advising them that their application has been successful. Sooner or later the scammers will claim that the victim must pay certain specified fees before their loan transaction can be completed. The scammers have a variety of ready-made excuses explaining why these fees are necessary and cannot be avoided. They may claim that the money is to cover application fees, insurance fees, bank fees, tax fees or any one of a host of other entirely fictional charges. Typically, the scammers will keep asking the victim to pay further fees until he or she finally realizes what is actually happening and stops sending money. Of course, the victim will never receive a cent of the promised loan and is quite unlikely to recover any money that he or she has already submitted.

In a sinister variant of this scam, the scammers will send their victim a cheque, ostensibly as part-payment of the loan. The victim will be instructed to bank the cheque and then wire a specified portion of it back to the scammers to cover transaction fees. In some cases, the scammers may send a money order rather than a cheque. However, the cheque or money order will later turn out to be stolen or forged. The transaction trail will lead police directly to the victim and he or she may be held responsible for receiving stolen funds and be left out of pocket as well. Like money-transfer job scams and lottery cheque scams this ruse offers scammers an effective means of laundering their ill-gotten gains.

The scammers may also try to collect enough personal information about their victim to allow them to steal his or her identity. In the above example, the scammers request quite a lot of information as part of the bogus loan application. During the course of their subsequent dialog with their victim, they may try to gather even more sensitive information until they have enough to commit identity theft.

It is not difficult to recognize bogus loan offers such as these. No legitimate financial institution would randomly offer unsecured loans by distributing unsolicited emails. Legitimate lenders who advertise their services on the Internet are likely to have an official website offering more information and publish contact information such as phone numbers and an office mailing address. And they almost certainly would not use a free web-based email account such as Gmail or Yahoo to contact potential clients.

Like other versions of the Nigerian advance fee scam, the best way to deal with these bogus loan offer emails is simply to delete them. Do not reply to such emails or respond to them in any way.

Another example:
References:
Payment Transfer Job Scam Emails - Laundering Scams
Lottery Cheque Scams
Nigerian Scams - 419 Scam Information

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Summary:
Email claims that recipients who forward the message to at least five other people have a chance to have their body frozen free for 50 years by new human cryogenics company, IceLift.

Status:
False

Example:(Submitted, September 2007)
Commentary:
According to this email, the recipient can go in the draw to win 50 years of human hibernation provided by IceLift, a company that claims it will soon be offering human cryogenic services to clients. The message claims that all the recipient has to do to enter the draw is forward the email to 5 or more other people.

IceLift is apparently a real entity, although it is not yet fully operational. Details about the company are so far rather sketchy, but it does have a website that presents some information about cryogenic services soon to be offered. At first glance, the email forward may seem like a thinly disguised, if rather lame, attempt to promote the new company. However, Mary Wanecki, the PR & Marketing manager of IceLift, has assured me that the company is not responsible for the email forward although they are aware of its existence.

The email is similar to a long line of other giveaway hoaxes, including the free Sony Ericsson phone hoax. No legitimate, sensibly run company is likely to use the random forwarding of an email to offer promotional giveaways of this nature. Such emails can continue circulating for years, cluttering inboxes and wasting the time of company staff who must answer endless questions about the fake promotions featured in the messages.

According to the IceLift website, the project has the necessary technology to effectively slow down human functions so that a participant would only age about 482 days if "frozen" for fifty years. Therefore, claims the site, participants can be unfrozen in the future and begin a new life. Many readers would consider these claims to be quite incredible, the stuff of science fiction. Others may believe that the supposed project is no more than a prank. However, Mary Wanecki insists that the project is not a joke and promises that more information will be published within the next few months. The true status of the IceLift project will perhaps be more apparent when this new information becomes available.

Other companies have offered human cryogenic services in the past. However, these companies have basically operated on the quite questionable premise that a future society will have gained the necessary technology to revive and reanimate their clients. Thus, if it turns out that this future society has not achieved such a sophisticated level of technology after all, clients of these companies are likely to linger indefinitely as human popsicles.

Regardless of the IceLift Project's status, now or in the future, it presents an interesting concept and is bound to create a lot of lively debate. I will await further developments with interest.

References:
Giveaway Hoaxes
Sony Ericsson Phone Giveaway Hoax
Human hibernation project - IceLift
Corpses Frozen for Future Rebirth by Arizona Company

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Summary:
Email with an attached photograph of a mural placed above urinals in a men's room claims that the mural was created by staff at an "all-women" design company for a New York office project.

Status:
Mural is real - description is false

Example:(Submitted, September 2007)
Commentary:
This rather startling photograph of a mural above the urinals in a men's room has been circulating via email and online since 2005. The mural depicted in the photograph is real. However, the current version of the message includes a description that is totally false and was apparently tacked onto the photograph at some point during its journey through cyberspace.

The description claims that an "all-women" company called "Edge Designs" created the mural for a NYC office project. However, the mural was actually designed by Perron Developments and graces a second floor men's loo in a Sofitel hotel in Queenstown, New Zealand.

An October 2005 article on Hotel Industry News notes:

The second floor men's toilet, which services the complex's restaurants including Bezu and Fatz Cat, has been tastefully and aesthetically designed by the complex's developers Cam Marsh and Mark Perriam of Perron, and Brett Taylor of Group CDA. It features six unique individual 'stands' manufactured by Three Sixty Limited in Auckland.

But it's not the tasteful design or subtle lighting that has tongues wagging in the New Zealand resort town.

It is the six-metre long backdrop of life-size photographs featuring local models in varying poses directly behind each of the six stands - each with a full view of the action.

The shots were taken by photographer Sheena Haywood and feature models from Ican Modelling, a Queenstown agency.

It is unclear where the description's references to "Edge Designs" originated. The description and, the "all-women run company" may have been simply made up as a fictional cover story to go with the photograph. There are several companies named "Edge Designs" located in various parts of the world. However, none that I could find bear any resemblance to the company described in the message.

Moreover, the original version of the message contained only the following, short but accurate, description:

Check out the new men's loo at the Sofitel in Queenstown NZ!

A post on the Politics in the Zeros blog also features the mural and includes a comment by Peter Dallimore of Perron Developments. In his comment, Dallimore explains how his company designed and produced the men's room wall and he dismisses the "Edge Designs" information as "totally fictitious".

Thus, the current version of this message is just one more in a long line of email forwards that contain genuine photographs that have been attached to false or inaccurate descriptions.
References:
Perron Developments
Sofitel Queenstown
Queenstown, New Zealand Hotel Unzips Eye-opening New Loo
Politics in the Zeros: Men's restroom mural

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Summary:
Email claims that certain brands of lipstick contain dangerous amounts of lead and can cause cancer. The message includes a list of lipstick brands and instructions for testing lipsticks for lead content.

Status:
Misleading and inaccurate, although a recent study indicates that some lipsticks do contain small amounts of lead.

Example:(Submitted, January 2006)
Commentary:
This email forward warns that certain prominent brands of lipstick contain dangerous amounts of lead and can cause cancer in those who use them. Although a 2007 study by The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has found that some lipsticks do have higher than expected levels of lead, this email forward is not related to that study and contains highly misleading and inaccurate information.

Health authorities worldwide have long known the dangers associated with lead exposure. Most have strict guidelines that regulate the level of lead in consumer products, including cosmetics. Regulatory and industry bodies such as the FDA in the US, the CTPA in the UK, the European Commission and similar institutions in other nations control the substances that can be added to cosmetic products.

The current version of the email claims that the information originates from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. However, this claim is highly suspect. There is no mention of such a warning published on the Walter Reed Army Medical Center website. Furthermore, this apparent endorsement and the mention of Dioxin Carcinogens also appear in another email hoax that warns of links between plastic use and cancer. Apparently, the Walter Reed reference was copied verbatim from one hoax email and tacked on to the other in a fruitless attempt to add a measure of credibility.

Another aspect of the email also casts doubt on the authenticity of its claims. While long-term lead exposure can indeed lead to cancer, it is also indicated in other serious health issues such as stroke and kidney disease. Even short-term exposure can have adverse health effects, including impact on blood cell chemistry and developmental issues in children. In spite of this, the "warning" focuses purely on the potential cancer link and ignores other equally serious lead related health issues. It is doubtful that a genuine, medically endorsed warning message would mention only one of the health risks inherent in lead exposure.

The "test" outlined in the message is also highly misleading. According to information available from New Zealand's COSMETIC TOILETRY & FRAGRANCES ASSOCIATION, the "reactions described in the email occur when the test is done with any metal and just using plain wax which is a core component of most lipsticks." My own random testing revealed that dark streaks appear to be left in a variety of substances by a variety of metals, even copper on plain old candle wax. Thus an apparently "positive" result for this test does not effectively indicate the presence of lead. Reliably detecting the presence of lead in a substance generally requires scientific testing or at least the use of specialized lead testing kits. This supposed "test" seems to be a corrupted version of the ancient touchstone method of testing the purity of gold by examining the streak left when gold was scraped against a dark stone. Clearly, instructions for conducting this fake test were only included in the email to trick recipients into believing its claims.

Thus the information in this email is highly misleading and inaccurate and it should not be forwarded to others as is.

That said, a recent study by The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics indicates that some lipsticks do contain small amounts of lead. Although the results of this study are cause for concern, they in no way vindicate the misinformation contained in this email forward. Stacy Malkan, a cofounder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is genuinely concerned about the findings of the study. However, an article on the issue notes:

Malkan said that lead in lipstick is a valid concern, borne out by the campaign's tests. But she dismissed the cancer scare and a suggestion that consumers can test for lead by scratching lipstick with a gold ring.

In fact, lead is common element in our environment and we are likely to be exposed to it every day from a variety of sources. The potential danger is that the tiny amounts of lead contained in some lipsticks could accumulate along with other lead sources and eventually cause health issues.

References:
FDA/CFSAN Cosmetics - Information for Industry
The CTPA :The Cosmetic Toiletry Perfumery Association :Cosmetic legislation
European Commission: Cosmetics and Medical Devices - Introduction
FDA: General specifications for straight colors
Walter Reed Army Medical Center website
COSMETIC TOILETRY & FRAGRANCES ASSOCIATION:Lead and Cosmetics (PDF FILE AVAILABLE)
WHAT'S THAT STUFF?: Lipstick
Cancer Help: Lead in lipstick causing cancer
Lead Poisoning - NSC
FDA/CFSAN FDA Consumer: Dangers of Lead Still Linger
EPA Consumer Factsheet on: LEAD
Lead tests raise red flag for lipsticks

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Summary:
Email with an attached photograph of a very muscular canine claims that the dog is the strongest in the world and works for the Russian Army.

Status:
Real dog - Description is false

Example:(Submitted, September 2007)
Commentary:
According to the caption that accompanies a circulating photograph of an unusually muscular canine, the pictured dog is the strongest in the world and works for the Russian Army. At first glance, many may assume that the image has been manipulated. However, the photograph is genuine and depicts a real animal. On the other hand, the claims in the photograph's caption are inaccurate.

According to a July 2007 Daily Mail article, the hulking canine in the photograph is a whippet named Wendy who was born with a genetic defect which caused her to grow larger and much more muscular than others of her breed:

While her head, heart, lungs and legs are the size of those of a normal whippet, her gene defect means she is "double muscled".

She weighs 4st4lb - twice as much as she should - and has bulging neck muscles, burly shoulders and haunches like a baboon. And unlike ordinary whippets known for their lithe and narrow frame, this four-year-old pedigree doesn't just have a sixpack stomach, she has a 24-pack.

A June 2007 New York Times article reports that Wendy and others like her - dubbed "bully whippets" - have become the subjects of scientific testing.

When mutant, muscle-bound puppies started showing up in litters of champion racing whippets, the breeders of the normally sleek dogs invited scientists to take DNA samples at race meets here and across the country. They hoped to find a genetic cause for the condition and a way to purge it from the breed.

It worked. "Bully whippets," as the heavyset dogs are known, turn out to have a genetic mutation that enhances muscle development.

In spite of her somewhat fearsome appearance, Wendy's owner claims that she is a friendly animal who "likes nothing better than a good back scratch and isn't shy about sitting in your lap to ask for one". And far from living a spartan life as a Russian Army dog, Wendy enjoys a relaxed and healthy life on a farm in Victoria, Canada.

Research indicates that there have been many contenders for the title of "Strongest dog in the World", but no clear and confirmed winner has so far emerged. And, in fact, reports about Wendy make no claims that she is the world's strongest dog.

A report in the PLoS Genetics journal offers in-depth scientific information about the genetic mutation that caused Wendy's double-muscled appearance.

References:
Meet the Incredible Hulk of Hounds
As Breeders Test DNA, Dogs Become Guinea Pigs
Big Wendy the muscular whippet
A Mutation in the Myostatin Gene Increases Muscle Mass and Enhances Racing Performance in Heterozygote Dogs

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Summary:
Email forward with attached photographs of a very large alligator gar claims that the fish was caught in Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma and weighed 327 lbs.

Status:
Genuine photographs - Description is inaccurate

Example:(Submitted, August 2007)
Commentary:
These photographs of fishermen with a very large alligator gar are circulating via email and have also been posted to various online forums.

The photographs are genuine. However, in spite of the claims made in captions overlaying the images, the monster alligator gar was not caught in Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma nor did it weigh 327 lbs.

The gar was actually caught by Keith Riehn and Robin Parks at the Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Texas in 2005. According to an August 2005 field journal entry published on the Aim Low Productions website, the gar weighed in at 244.5 lbs and was 8' 2" long. The entry describes in detail how the two Missouri bowfishermen made the catch and includes a link to one of the photographs included above. The photographs used in the above email message are also displayed in a photo gallery elsewhere on the site. These photographs do not include the "Broken Bow Lake" captions, which were apparently added later.

A September 2005 Dallas Morning News article also confirms the catch:

Using archery tackle that would suit Luke Skywalker, two Missouri archers won a tag-team version of gar wars at Sam Rayburn Lake, bagging a gigantic alligator gar that weighed 244 ½ pounds. It is the pending Bowfishing Association of America world record. The giant fish is not, however, the largest of its species taken with bow and arrow in Texas.

Seemingly, some prankster has attempted to claim undeserved regional credit by adding captions to the photographs that relocate the catch to Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma and significantly exaggerate the recorded weight of the fish. A post on the Oklahoma Fishing Stories blog also debunks the hoax. The post notes that the current unrestricted division alligator gar record for Oklahoma is a 184 pound fish caught by Sean Chatham in the Red River, Love County.

The prank message also suggests that giant alligator gar like the one pictured are responsible for the disappearance of people in Oklahoma lakes. There have been some rare reports of humans being bitten by alligator gar when fishing or dangling feet or hands in the water, but these bites are not considered deliberate predatory attacks. Although alligator gar are quite fearsome in appearance, there is no evidence to support the claim that they have ever fatally attacked humans. A Florida Museum of Natural History write-up about alligator gar notes:

Due to its large size and sharp teeth, the alligator gar is capable of delivering a serious bite wound to fisherman or swimmers. However, there is no documentation of attacks on man by alligator gars. The eggs are poisonous, causing illness if consumed by humans.

The largest recorded alligator gar was a 350 lbs giant caught during the 1930's in the Saint Francis River, Arkansas.

References:
FIELD JOURNALS ARCHIVE - BOW FISHING 2005
PHOTO GALLERY - 2005 TEXAS BOWFISHING TRIP
Dallas Morning News: Gar ... gantuan
Broken Bow Alligator Gar Hoax
Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyology Department: Alligator Gar

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Summary:
Email claims that if the recipient does not send the message on to at least ten other people his or her Yahoo account will be deleted.

Status:
False

Example:(Submitted, September 2007)
Commentary:
According to this email forward, Yahoo is "running out of resources" and is intending to close the accounts of members who do not pass the warning on to at least ten other people. However, this "warning" is entirely bogus and should not be taken seriously. Versions of the hoax that target Yahoo and a host of other online services have circulated continually since the late 1990's.

Although the colourful gussied up example shown above may seem a smidgen more "official" than some of the more amateurish versions that circulate, it is nonetheless a load of nonsense. Any message that claims that you need to forward an email to a certain number of people in order to retain membership of a service is virtually certain to be a hoax. No legitimate company, including Yahoo, is ever likely to impose such an absurd and uncontrollable requirement on its members.

The following links point to articles debunking other versions of the hoax:

• Hotmail Account Hoax
• MSN Shutdown Hoax
• AOL 100,000 Signatures Hoax
• MSN Messenger 500,000 Signatures Hoax
• MSN 18 Contacts Hoax
• Bebo.com Closing Down Hoax
• Another Hotmail Account Closure Hoax Email
• Facebook Shutting Down Hoax

These types of hoaxes are "successful" because they have an effective mechanism for self-propagation built right into their message. Many people forward these messages "just in case they are true". But, even if only a small percentage of recipients pass them on to ten or more of their friends, the amount of copies circulating can soon escalate into the hundreds of thousands.

Thus, such hoaxes do no more than waste bandwidth, clutter inboxes and make the sender look foolish. Please do not forward them.

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Summary:
Email with attached photographs claims that a technician found a snake inside a computer after the user reported hearing hissing noises and a bad smell.

Status:
Photographs are probably genuine - Description of circumstances is unsubstantiated.

Example:(Submitted, September 2007)
Commentary:
This email forward tells the tale of a woman who called technical support after her computer started producing strange hissing noises, a bad smell, and smoke before it stopped working completely. According to the message, when the technician arrived to diagnose the problem, he found a recently deceased snake inside the computer tower. Photographs that accompany the message show the hapless reptile being removed from its unusual hiding place, apparently after being electrocuted.

There is no evidence to suggest that the images themselves have been manipulated. Moreover, snakes can certainly wriggle their way into what might seem to be impossibly tight spaces. So it is not hard to believe that a snake could have found its way into a computer tower. Heat generated by the computer might also make the inside of a computer case seem like an attractive refuge for a snake. Personally, I see no reason to doubt the authenticity of these images.

That said, without any concrete information about the origin of the photographs, some sort of deliberate misdirection cannot be conclusively ruled out. As the following quick snap of a plastic snake liberated from a nearby toy box suggests, it would not be difficult to create convincing photographs using a fake reptile. Keep in mind that there are rubber snakes available that appear much more life-like than the toy I've used here.



A prankster might also have deliberately placed an already dead snake inside the computer especially for the photographs.

There is also no way of verifying if the description that travels with the photographs is accurate. It is quite possible that the "Tech Support" story was simply made up as a humorous way of explaining the photographs.

The message has been circulating for several years, but, so far, I have not found any reliable information as to where, or under what circumstances, the photographs were taken. If you have any knowledge of the origin of the images, I'd be pleased to hear from you.

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FBI Security has announced they will soon be implementing new software which will record every click of your mouse, in their efforts to track baddies.

It is their belief that the average user will not notice any difference in computer performance.


By the way, if you enjoy a good laugh you should check out the "That's Comedy! Joke Book", a fun-filled eBook that is simply packed with hundreds of very funny jokes! The book comes in PDF, which means you can download it straight after purchase and easily read it right on your computer screen. The eBook runs to well over 400 pages, so there are enough jokes to keep even the most funny hungry reader amused for quite some time. The jokes are clearly formatted and divided into chapters for easy access - a far cry from the garbled funnies that often circulate via email.

I consider this book to be very good value and I'm happy to add it to the small list of products that I'm willing to promote as an affiliate. And, by purchasing a copy, you can provide vital support for Hoax-Slayer as well as give yourself many a good laugh!

I am an affiliate for the "That's Comedy! Joke Book". For more information please refer to my Affiliate Marketing Policy

The links below lead to recent Hoax-Slayer articles that have not been included in this issue of the newsletter due to size restrictions:

• Yohana Ravelo Hoax


• Giant Rattlesnake Photograph


• Help Nirosha Silva By Forwarding Hoax


• Citizens Bank Money Manager Account Update Phishing Scam


• Evan Trembley Hoax

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