Issue 41 - Hoax-Slayer Newsletter

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This week in Hoax-Slayer:

• HIV Infected Blood in the Ketchup Hoax
• Mortgage Spam on the Rise
• MSN Shutdown Hoax
• Virus Report: Weekly Virus Wrap-Up
• Lottery Scams Continue
• Clever and Interesting Webpage
• Hosting Problems now Resolved
• Reader's Links
  
  
  
  

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Like many other hoax messages, this email forward warns of a sickening and unusual danger lurking among the commonplace items and places of our daily lives. In this case, the supposed danger is HIV infected blood mixed with ketchup in a fast food outlet.

As is often the case with such bogus warnings, the details in the email are extremely vague. The alleged perpetrator is identified only as "a man", and the type and location of the fast food outlet is omitted completely. The message does not indicate if the person has actually been apprehended or is still apt to be lurking around the condiments in your local burger joint, with deadly blood specimens at the ready. Thus, there is no way of verifying the information contained in the email, which, I dare say, was how the creator of the hoax intended it.

There does not appear to be any mention of such a case in the mainstream media. If it were true, such a story would be eminently newsworthy. It is highly unlikely that such a juicy little tale would be left to spread via email alone if there were any truth in it whatsoever. Legitimate news outlets would have been quick to cover the story. By asking recipients to send the message to "as many people as possible" the email implies that adding HIV infected blood to ketchup dispensers might be a frequent occurrence. If this were really the case, health authority containment strategies would almost certainly have been implemented to protect consumers and, again, the case would have attracted extensive publicity.

It also should be noted that the chances of a person contacting HIV by ingesting infected blood mixed with ketchup are extremely remote. According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), "Scientists and medical authorities agree that HIV does not survive well outside the body, making the possibility of environmental transmission remote." The article explains that the virus cannot reproduce outside a living host except under laboratory conditions. Thus, even if infected blood was added to ketchup, the virus would not survive for long, nor would it reproduce itself. This hoax is by no means the first to claim that innocent victims are at risk of being infected by HIV via the malicious placement of infected material. The long-lived, and widespread, HIV needle hoax falsely warns that HIV infected needles are being deliberately left on theatre seats, petrol (gas) pump handles and phone-booth coin returns.

Like other hoaxes, such as the roach eggs hoax, this infected blood in the ketchup hoax relies for effect on the revulsion factor. The thought of consuming HIV infected human blood would be enough to put even the most ardent fast food lover off his or her burger and fries. So perhaps this ridiculous piece of email nonsense has just a smidgin of value. Perhaps, after receiving this email, some will forgo their usual deep-fried artery-clogger and opt for a garden salad instead. Mind you, do you really know what's in that salad dressing?(grin)



An example of the hoax email:
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One of the most common types of unsolicited email hitting inboxes at the moment is that promoting mortgage services. Many of the emails imply that the recipient has already been approved for a loan by making a vague statement such as "we are accepting your mortgage application". These emails are basically just poorly implemented tricks to get recipients to click on the link provided and fill out a form. Gullible recipients may believe that they are actually being offered a loan.

A lot of the sites seem to only last a few days before they are taken down. A great deal of personal information has to be entered into the form. This information could then be used for nefarious purposes such as highly targeted spamming via email, surface mail and telemarketing. The information could also be sold to other spammers. If enough information is provided, scammers might even be able to steal the person's identity. The spam linked "mortgage application" sites I've examined look very suspect to me. Often they consist of just one page containing a form. There is no Privacy Policy or legal document, no information about the company offering the service and no contact options other than the form provided. Often,the form is not secure, which is a good indication that the site is not legitimate. No credible company would expect potential clients to submit information via an unsecured form. A Washington Post article reports that the US based Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took legal action against one online entity, 30 Minute Mortgage Inc, "that had advertised 3.95 percent, 30-year mortgages, hoping to obtain sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, from consumers for resale."

Some of the companies advertised in mortgage spam might actually be providing some form of mortgage related services rather than just trying to harvest personal information. Often these companies offer pay-per-lead affiliate programs. That is, people can sign up as affiliates and every time somebody clicks their special link and fills in a form, they receive a commission. This sort of affiliate program can be a perfectly legitimate means of doing business so long as it does not involve spamming or other under-hand tactics. Legitimate companies that offer pay-per-lead affiliate programs will not tolerate spamming and affiliates who do so will have their contracts terminated. In fact, some quite legitimate mortgage companies such as LendingTree.com offer affiliate programs, but they have strict anti-spam policies outlined in their affiliate operating agreements.

My personal policy is to never deal with spammers, regardless of how attractive their offer may seem. If they are unscrupulous enough to send unsolicited email, or allow their affiliates to send unsolicited email, then they have immediately proven themselves to be untrustworthy and they will never get my business.


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Another apparently unfounded rumour that targets MSN is currently circulating. The email claims that MSN "will shut down at 12:00 tonight" and will remain shutdown for a "week or so". The message doesn't specify a date, which means that the deliberately vague timeframe of "tonight" will still appear valid to the unwary regardless of what date they actually receive it. In fact, this hoax will probably mutate and keep on making the rounds for months to come.

There is nothing on the MSN home page about any scheduled shutdown. In the highly unlikely event that MSN was actually going to shut down for a week, I'm sure that they would let their clients know about it via their home page or other means. Furthermore, any notification sent by MSN about the shutdown would certainly be a lot more formal and informative then the silly message quoted below.

This hoax is similar to the long running Hotmail Account Hoax, which claims that the recipient's Hotmail account will be shutdown if the message is not forwarded. Like the Hotmail hoax, this one should be deleted rather than forwarded.


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The list below represents some of the most significant new virus threats identified by Symantec Security Response over the last few days.

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A new worm known as W32.Funner is spreading via the Microsoft Windows Messenger application. The worm modifies the hosts file by adding a number of entries that point to external IP addresses.

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W32.Fili.A@mm is a worm that spreads using Microsoft Outlook, peer-to-peer file sharing networks and mIRC. Infected emails will have one of the following subject lines:

Important legal notice!
Please help us to save the right of freedom of expression!
Please help us be free! We need the basic right of expression

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W32.Bagz@mm is a worm that collects email addresses from the infected computer and uses it own SMTP engine to spread. The "From" field of the infected email will be spoofed. The subject line of the infected email will be one of the following.

Re: User ID Update
Fwd: Your Funds are Eligible for Withdrawal
find a solution with this customer
No Subject
Re: Help Desk Registration
failure notice
Fwd: Password
when should i call you?
RE: Re: A question
Knowledge Base Article
Open Invoices
Returned mail: see transcript for details
building maintenance
[Fwd: Broken link]
WinXP
troubles are back again
Questions
Order Approval
units available
progress news
big announcements
Need help pls
You have recieved an eCard!
What is this ????
Deactivation Notice
Message recieved, please confirm
My funny stories
Cost Inquiry
Re: payment
referrences
Webmail Invite
RE: quote request

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Every week I receive dozens of lottery scam emails, either as submitted examples or directly from the scammers. I also receive many enquiries from people who have already lost money to lottery scams or are concerned because they have submitted information to the scammers.

Basically, these scams work like this:

You receive an unsolicited email, letter or fax, which states that you have won a major prize in an international lottery. Supposedly, your email address was collected online and attached to a random number that was subsequently entered in a draw for the lottery. In order to claim your prize, you are instructed to contact the official "agent" in charge of your case. You are also advised to keep the win confidential for "security reasons". This part of the scam is basically a random phishing expedition. If you respond in any way to the email, the scammers will send further messages or even contact you by phone in an attempt to draw you deeper into the scam.

You may be asked to provide banking details, ostensibly to facilitate the transfer of your winnings. Sooner or later, the scammers will request some sort of advance fee supposedly to cover administration, legal or delivery costs. This request for money is the main purpose of the scam. At its core, this scam is just a reworking of the Nigerian loan fraud, in which scammers also eventually ask for upfront fees to facilitate the "deal". Like Nigerian scams, victims who do actually pay the requested fees will probably find that they receive continuing payment demands to cover "unexpected expenses". The requests for money will go on until the victim realizes what is happening or has no further money to send.

The details of the lottery scams vary regularly with regard to the name of the lottery itself, the country of origin, the sponsoring organization, the amount of the "prize" and other particulars. The scammers try to add a patina of legitimacy to their claims by mentioning real financial institutions, government departments or well-known companies. They may also provide links to slick looking, but fraudulent websites that are designed to back up information included in the scam emails. If the scammers are successful in establishing a dialogue with a potential victim, they may provide "proof" such as a scanned image of a supposed government official's ID and even photographs of the "winnings" in cash.

If you receive one of these scam emails, it is important that you do not respond to it in any way. The scammers are likely to act upon any response from those they see as potential victims. Sometimes, recipients submit a great deal of personal information before realizing that they are being conned. Even if they stop responding and have not sent any money, the scammers may have already gained enough personal information to commit identity theft.

Read more information about Lottery Scams

A current example of a lottery scam email is included below:



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I have recently exchanged links with a site that I feel is exceptionally clever and unusual so I thought I would mention it here. It is very amusing and well worth a visit.

Site description:

You can access the site via the link below:
http://www.evethenovel.com/

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Over the last two weeks I have experienced significant technical problems with my hosting account. The problems mean that email sent to my Hoax-Slayer accounts may have been lost, and site visitors may have encountered a number of "Page not found" errors.

These problems were beyond my control, as they had to be dealt with by the hosting company. The problems have now been resolved, at least in the short term.

If you have sent email to me within the last two weeks, please note that I may not have received it, so you might like to repost your message. I regret any inconvenience these problems may have caused you.

Also, just a reminder that the Hoax-Slayer Forums are the best place to ask scam and hoax related questions.

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Hoax-Slayer Newsletter subscribers who link to Hoax-Slayer can get a link featured in the newsletter as well on this page.

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Please check out the following links from other subscibers:

Windows XP Central
A Windows XP Support Group that offers help for Windows XP Pro/Home users

Computer Tricks and Tips
A very friendly computer support group that aims to provide computer help for anyone who may need it.

Fantastic Freeware
Looking for a freeware program to do a certain task? Like to read about decent freeware products to try? Then join the excellent Fantastic Freeware Yahoo group

Martha's Web
PC maintenance, security, Outlook Express Help, fun stuff and a lot more.

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