Issue 49 - Hoax-Slayer Newsletter

---

• Plastics Cancer Link Email
• Help Fight Scammers
• eBay Phisher Scam Emails
• Slow Dance Charity Hoax
• Alphabetical List of Lottery Scam Examples
• Krista Marie Brain Cancer Hoax
• Life is Beautiful Hoax Returns
• Guest Article: The 4 Ws of Junk E-mail (By Niall Roche)
• Hoax-Slayer Humour: NEW WORDS AND DEFINITIONS 2005
  
  
  
  

---

---

I have briefly discussed some aspects of the email forward below in a previous issue of the newsletter. However, I regularly receive many emails that enquire about the veracity of the information it contains. Therefore, I feel the subject warrants a more thorough treatment.

An earlier variant of this hoax referred only to the freezing of plastic water bottles. This later version has added on spurious information about using plastics in microwave ovens as well. Both versions contain false and misleading information.

Rolf Halden of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has expertly debunked the rumour linking plastic bottles to cancer. According to Halden the claim is an urban legend. He explains that:

Freezing actually works against the release of chemicals. Chemicals do not diffuse as readily in cold temperatures, which would limit chemical release if there were dioxins in plastic, and we don't think there are.

Experts also contradict the claim that using plastics in microwaves can cause dioxins to leech into the food. According to Edward Machuga, Ph.D, of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), The FDA has seen no evidence that plastic containers or films contain dioxins and knows of no reason why they would. The general consensus is that using plastic containers or plastic wrap in microwaves is not dangerous, so long as microwave safe plastics are used and manufacturers guidelines are followed. The FDA article does admit that substances in plastics can leach into food. However, the FDA does not consider this to be a significant risk to humans. The FDA article maintains that:

The agency has assessed migration levels of substances added to regulated plastics and has found the levels to be well within the margin of safety based on information available to the agency.

The email also claims that Saran Wrap "drips poisonous toxins" into the food when used in a microwave. SC Johnson, the makers of Saran® plastic wrap has strongly refuted this claim and has released the following statement.
I have labelled this email forward as false for the following reasons:

• The email falsely claims that freezing water in plastic containers causes dioxins to enter the liquid.
  
  
• The email makes statements about a particular product, Saran Wrap, that have been effectively proven to be untrue by the company that makes the product.
  
  
• Dr. Edward Fujimoto is a real person who apparently did make at least some of the statements attributed to him. However, although Dr. Fujimoto told TruthorFiction.com that he had evidence supporting his claims, the article notes that he has so far failed to produce this alleged evidence. It appears that his claims remain unsubstantiated. To my knowledge, they have never been backed up by any sort of credible scientific studies. In fact, experts in the field have resoundingly refuted his claims. If credible scientific information backing up the claims in the email had been presented, the FDA, and other health authorities worldwide, would have certainly re-examined the issue. The previously mentioned FDA article states that the FDA will revisit its safety evaluation if new scientific information raises concerns. Apparently, no such scientific information has been forthcoming.
  
  
• The email makes no effort to back up the information it contains with any sort of checkable references.
  
  
• Some versions of the email (including the example below) claim that the information is endorsed by John Hopkins University and /or the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. However, I have found no evidence to support this claim. Earlier versions of the email did not include this supposed endorsement, so it appears that someone has added it to the message in an attempt to make the information sound more believable.
  
  
• The mainstream media and the medical establishment remain relatively silent on the issue in spite of the fact that versions of the email have been circulating for several years. If the information in the email had been proven to be true, or even partially substantiated by credible medical studies, then it would almost certainly be widely publicized in a variety of media. If true, informing the public about health risks associated with the use of plastics would certainly not be left to the random forwarding of a poorly written email.

Therefore, in my opinion, the information in this email forward should not be taken seriously. The misinformation contained in the email clearly identifies it as just one more among the many bogus warnings that continually circulate around cyberspace.

However, while the claims in this email forward are demonstrably untrue, alarmist and highly misleading, it is important to keep in mind that not all plastics are necessarily safe to use in microwave ovens. As stated earlier in the article, plastics are considered by experts to be safe to use in microwave ovens so long as microwave safe plastics are used and manufacturers guidelines are followed. However, some plastic containers - such as those that hold meals from fast-food outlets, or cold food receptacles such as margarine tubs - may not be suitable for microwave use. The American Plastics Council has information and resources about safely using plastics in the microwave oven on its website.

This email is not the only chain letter that makes bogus claims about the dangers of plastic containers. Another email forward falsely claims that simply reusing plastic bottles can lead to the ingestion of cancer causing chemical agents. In fact, there are a number of myths and rumours associated with the use of plastics. For more information about plastic related myths, visit plasticsmythbuster.org.



Further information:

• plasticsmythbuster.org: Microwave Madness: The Dish on Dioxins
• plasticsmythbuster.org: Dioxin Doubletalk
• plasticsinfo.org: saftey of plastic food wraps and containers
• americanplasticscouncil.org: Plastics: Revolutionizing American Mealtime

---

Every week, I get a considerable number of email enquiries regarding various types of Internet scams. Unfortunately, quite a few of these are from desperate people who have already sent money to scammers and are seeking help to recover their lost funds. Sadly, there is virtually nothing that I can do to help victims except advise them to take their case to the police. In fact, even law enforcement authorities may be powerless to help victims.

Naturally, with regard to Internet scams, prevention is much better than any cure. And the key to prevention is simply education. As computer systems become cheaper, more and more people are getting online. Thousands of new computer users are joining the Internet every day and these people are especially vulnerable. As well, even experienced users may have dangerous gaps in their knowledge with regard to the ways of Internet scammers.

As computer users, perhaps we all have a certain responsibility to help fight Internet scammers. You can help by:

• Making sure that you understand how common Internet scams work.
• Helping to educate others about these common Internet scams.

To that end, I have created a web page that features a brief overview of major types of Internet scams and includes links to more information. The article is intended as an introduction to the ways of Internet scammers for those that may not be aware of how they operate.

I am extending full reprint rights to this article. This means that you can freely copy the article and send it via email, include it on your website, blog, discussion group or newsletter, print copies of it to give to your friends or include it in paper publications.

Alternatively, you can simply provide a link to the article.

Don't underestimate the power of personal communication as a method of disseminating information. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! I'm very pleased to say that along with the sadder stories from victims, I also receive quite a few "thank-you" emails from people who have narrowly avoided becoming scam victims because of information they found on the Hoax-Slayer website.

---

The message below is typical examples of an almost continual barrage of phisher scams that target online auction site, eBay.

The links in the scam emails leads to a fake website that closely resembles the real eBay login screen. Those who do "login" to the fake site are presented with a form that asks for sensitive personal information including address data and ATM card details. The screenshots below display parts of one of these fraudulent forms. Unlike a real eBay form, the page is not a secure site. The Internet criminals running the scam will collect any information entered into these fake forms.


More information about these fraudulent activities is available on the eBay website.

Phisher scammers target many financial institutions and online entities almost continually. At any one time, there may be a number of different scam email versions all directed at a particular bank or online company. Be wary of any email that asks you to provide sensitive personal information such as banking details. Most legitimate companies would not request such information from customers via email. To find out more about phisher scams and access more examples, click the link below.

The above message arrives in HTML format as shown in the screenshot below:

---

The email forward included below is just one more in a long line of silly hoaxes which claim that an email is being tracked in some way and that money will be donated every time a message is forwarded. Such claims are simply absurd. No legitimate company or organization would agree to donate money based on how many times a particular email is forwarded. Furthermore, there is no reliable, or ethical, method of tracking the journey of one particular email that may ultimately be forwarded thousands of times. Any message that attempts to convince recipients that a charitable campaign relies on the random forwarding of an email is almost certainly a hoax.

"Slow Dance", the poem tacked onto the top of the email, was not written by "a terminally ill young girl in a New York Hospital". In fact, the piece was penned by David L. Weatherford, poet and child psychologist. "Slow Dance" can be viewed on the poet's website.

The American Cancer Society has denied any involvement and has the following disclaimer on its website:
Furthermore, the email was not sent by Dr. Dennis Sheilds as claimed. Although Dr. Dennis Sheilds is a real person, and a faculty member at the Albert Einstein College Of Medicine, it appears that his name was added to the message without his permission. A page on the AECOM website states that:
The hoax appears to have evolved out of an earlier hoax that named the dying child as Jessica Mydek (See example below). According to the ACS, The story of Jessica Mydek has never been substantiated. The American Cancer Society does not endorse fundraising efforts using chain letters of any kind.

This email and others like it should be deleted rather than forwarded.


Earlier Version:

---

As noted earlier in the newsletter, a great number of people fall victim to lottery scammers every day. In order to thwart the scammers in some small way, I have recently constructed a web page that consists of an alphabetical list of lottery scam examples. This list contains links to examples of lottery scam emails that I have collected either via submissions from site visitors or directly from lottery scammers. New examples are added as soon as possible after I receive them. The search engines index these web pages quite quickly, so people seeking information about a new lottery scam email they have received may hopefully come across a pertinent example *before* they become victims.

However, it is important to understand that this is by no means a comprehensive list. The examples listed represent only a small portion of the thousands of variations that are being or have been distributed. Lottery scammers are continually creating new names for their bogus lotteries. As well, they may use variations of existing names or combine previously used names in many different ways.

Many lottery scam emails are very similar except for the name of the bogus lottery and various details such as place names, dates and contact details. Often, whole paragraphs are repeated in lottery emails that have completely different names and details. This strong similarity is one way of quickly identifying a lottery email as a scam.

If you receive a lottery email that is not listed but proves to be very similar in format, style and phrasing to one or more of the included examples, then it is highly probable that the email is a scam.

The list is still being populated and I have many more examples to add. You can help by submitting lottery scam examples via the contact form.

View the lottery scam list

More information about lottery scams in general

---

The latest version of this hoax arrives as an attractively presented HTML email complete with a photograph of the supposedly sick baby.

The baby in the photograph is not named Natalie, nor is she dying of brain cancer. According to an article about this hoax on Snopes.com, the baby's name is Megan Olivia Cronce who was born in 1998. The perpetrator of this hoax apparently stole her picture from a baby photos website and attached it to the spurious message. The hoax has been circulating since 2002.

This hoax is just one in a whole series of emails that make the absurd claim that a given company will donate money every time a message is sent onward. No legitimate company, including AOL, would consider organizing or supporting a charitable campaign that was based on how often a particular email is forwarded. In any case, there is simply no feasible way to keep track of how many times an individual email is forwarded. Any email that tries to convince recipients that a donation, prize, or other benefit is somehow contingent upon how many times the message is forwarded is almost certainly a hoax.

Another similar, and equally ridiculous, hoax urges recipients to click the forward button to help fictitious ten-year-old "Rachel Arlington", who is also purportedly dying of brain cancer. Again, AOL is the company supposedly "tracking" the message and donating accordingly.

Nonsensical emails such as these should be relegated directly to the trash where they belong. Forwarding them achieves nothing except perhaps for the highly undesirable goal of boosting the twisted ego of the imbecile who started the hoax to begin with. Anybody who believes that creating a hoax about a dying child is funny or fulfilling in some way obviously has serious psychological problems.


A version that arrives as an image file:

---

A greatly increased rate of submissions suggests that the old Life is Beautiful virus hoax email has been revitalized and is once again duping unwary email recipients around the planet. The hoax warns that an MS Power Point presentation carried by an apparently innocent email is actually a destructive virus that will cause victims to "lose everything in your PC". There is not, nor has there ever been, a virus like the one described in this hoax email.

There are a number of versions of the hoax, some of which are in Portuguese, French, Italian and German.

Forwarding false virus warnings such as this one is a waste of bandwidth and can be counter-productive. The dissemination of fake virus warnings can result in recipients ignoring or overlooking legitimate warnings. In some cases, such as the Teddy Bear Virus Hoax, fake warnings can trick people into deleting legitimate files from their computers.

If you receive a virus warning via email, always check the veracity of the warning on an anti-virus or anti-hoax website before forwarding the email or acting upon any instructions the email may contain.

Symantec Article

---

The 4 Ws of Junk E-mail
By Niall Roche

Junk e-mail or spam has become the scourge of the modern computer world. It eats bandwidth. Spam is like a disease. It doesn't care about age, religion, wealth. It doesn't discriminate. Junk e-mail affects us all.

There are 4 keys to the junk mail question – Who, What, Where and Why.

Who they are

The typical profile of a junk mail sender is as follows. Male, 18 – 30 years of age, single, technically competent and with little regard for their status as a public nuisance. There are female junk mailers out there but, unfortunately, this is predominantly a male preserve.

What they use to send spam

There are many tools available to the spam merchant. The main ones are e-mail extractors, newsgroup harvesters and CD lists.

E-mail extractors are programs which wander around the Internet gathering e-mail addresses from websites and often from web based forums (unprotected forums). A "good" e-mail extractor can gather 15,000 e-mail addresses per hour.

Newsgroup harvesters are programs which search through newsgroups for valid e-mail addresses. Most newsgroups users are aware of this and take measures to counteract these harvesting programs. Despite these measures a newsgroup harvester application can gather 20,000 – 30,000 e-mail addresses in an hour.

CD lists are one of the worst sources. 90 million e-mail addresses available on a single CD for as little as $20. A lot of the addresses on these CDs would be junk (many would no longer exist) but an equally large number of these addresses would be valid. A CD like this is a junk mailers dream.

Where they do it from

Those involved in sending out bulk e-mail are "entrepreneurs" or at least they think so. The vast majority of those involved in the spam business are self-employed and work from home. Sending spam is almost the ideal home based business. You name your hours and the business itself is almost automatic. Maximum gain from minimum effort.

Why they do it in the first place

Their motivation is money. Considerable amounts of cash actually. Each spammer who sends out 1,000,000 junk e-mails is certain of approximately 100 sales. Many of the products they sell are worth $50 - $100 dollars to them in commission. Yes. Shocking isn't it? The average bulk mailer earns in excess of $100,000 per year! Maximum return for minimum effort. Unless of course you get caught and get jail time.

Niall Roche is the content author and owner of http://www.spam-site.com which reviews and tests spam filters for the business and end user.

Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/

---

From a forwarded email:

Here are a few new plays on words, some of them absolutely brilliant, for all you lovers of the English language.

The Washington Post's Style Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

Here are this year's winners:

Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financiall y impotent for an indefinite period.

Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.

Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

Karmageddon (n): It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

Glibido (v): All talk and no action.

Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come very quickly.

Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

Beel zebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.

---

---