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Hoaxes and Urban Legends: The "Invitation" virus hoax
Whenever you receive an email that urges you to immediately forward that mail to everyone you know, there is a very good chance the email is a hoax. Please take the time to verify the message by doing a Google search before you send it on to anyone else. In most cases when you take an arbitrary sentence from the message and google for it you'll end up with many hoax warning pages as the result.The following email is one such hoax. The virus it warns about does not exist. This is a modified version of the classic "A Virtual Card For You" virus warning hoax, with entire sentences lifted verbatim from that chain letter ("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.").
Please review:
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Olympic Torch Virus (breakthechain.org)
Known email hoaxes:
The AOL/Microsoft money giveaway hoax
The "809" area code hoax
The burned baby hoax
Amy Bruce / Make A Wish hoax
The "Invitation" virus hoax
The "Life is beautiful" virus hoax
The "Life is beautiful" virus hoax
The Oliver North / Osama bin Ladin / Al Gore hoax
Send spam to the South African police to save children
Exxon/Mobile gas boycott
Bush IQ report / Lovenstein Institute hoax
Monkeyman935 warning hoax
Kidney Theft urban legend
Ashley Flores, 13 (missing child hoax)
How to detect a two-way mirror
$50 call-back spam
Cooking an egg with cell phones
"Osama captured" / "Osama hanged" virus
A tale of Japanese Lizards and Love
The $5 killer
Audi A8 made out of silver
ATM PIN code entered in reverse will call the police
Mars spectacularly close to Earth on August 27
"An old lady walked into a Grocery Store..."
"Allah or the Lord Jesus Christ?"
"PDA+GSM Palm Treo 650 dan Treo 680 dan Treo 750"
Bayer drug contains HIV
Forward or lose your Hotmail account
Chinese "fix" jet engine with seatbelts
AOL will donate five cents for baby's brain cancer operation
Ericsson distributing free laptops
Art Bell Filipino hate letter
Hypodermic needles on gas pump handles
"Through a rapist's eyes" / Crying Baby theory
Sheryl Crow / John Hopkins Cancer update about plastic bottles
Children buried alive in Egypt, saved by Jesus
Missing child - Regina George Muñoz
Papaya Juice - (NOT!) A Cure for Dengue
Hiroshima 64 years later (is actually Yokohama)
Lou Dobbs video on Immigration/Amnesty bill (dead since 2007)
Missing child - Regina George Muñoz
Papaya Juice - (NOT!) A Cure for Dengue
Hiroshima 64 years later (is actually Yokohama)
Lou Dobbs video on Immigration/Amnesty bill (dead since 2007)
Example chain letter:
Subject: Virus Warning!!
Warning: READ AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
I checked www.snopes.com, and this is for real.
Get this sent around to your contacts ASAP...we don't need this spreading around.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS:
You should be alert during the next days:
Do not open any message with an attached filed, "Invitation" regardless of who sent it.
It is a virus that opens an "Olympic Torch" which "burns" the whole C:/ of your computer.
If you receive a the "invitation email, though it may have been sent by a friend, do not open it.
Instead, shut down your computer immediately.
This is the worst virus announced by CNN; it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.
The virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday and has no repair, as of yet.
This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.
SEND THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!
Subject: VIRUS WARNING
I received this from a dear friend, so I trust it.
Better to be safe than sorry!
xoxo
Subject: FW: Important Warning
PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND
CONTACTS!
You should be alerted during the next days: Do not
open any message with an attached filed called
"Invitation" regardless of who sent it. It is a virus
that opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" the whole
hard disc C of your computer.
This virus will be received from someone who has your
e-mail address in his/her contact list and that is why
you should send this e-mail to all your
contacts. It is better to receive this message 25
times than to receive the virus and open it. If you
receive a mail called "invitation", though sent
by a friend, do not open it and shut down your
computer immediately. 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.This virus simply destroys
the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital
information is kept.
Jenny
Spanish version of the hoax:
POR FAVOR, HAZ CIRCULAR ESTE AVISO A TUS AMISTADES, FAMILIA, CONTACTOS !!!
En los próximos días, debes estar atent@: No abras ningún mensaje con un archivo anexo llamado: Invitación ,
independientemente de quien te lo envíe. Es un virus que abre una antorcha olímpica que quema todo el disco duro C de la computadora. Este virus vendrá de una persona conocida que te tenia en su lista de direcciones. Es por eso que debes enviar este mensaje a todos tus contactos.
Es preferible recibir 25 veces este correo que recibir el virus y abrirlo. Si recibes el mensaje llamado: Invitación, aunque sea enviado por un amigo, no lo abras y apaga tu maquina inmediatamente. Es el peor virus anunciado por CNN. Un nuevo virus ha sido descubierto recientemente que ha sido clasificado por Microsoft como el virus más destructivo que haya existido . Este virus fue descubierto ayer por la tarde por Mc Afee. Y no hay arreglo aun para esta clase de virus. Este virus destruye simplemente el Sector Zero del Disco Duro, donde la información vital de su función es guardada.
ENVIA ESTE E-MAIL A QUIENES CONOZCAS. COPIA ESTE CORREO A UNO NUEVO Y MANDALO A TODOS TUS AMIGOS.
RECUERDA:
SI LO ENVIAS A ELLOS,
NOS BENEFICIAS A TODOS.
Here is a Dutch version of the "A Virtual Card For You" hoax chain letter (May 2007):
Het is om te Helpen je mag zelf weten wat je er mee doet !
Het meest vernielend virus ooit
Onmiddellijk lezen en doorsturen naar iedereen die je kent .
Aandacht !!!!
Hallo Je mag het volgende zeer ernstig nemen.
Je harde schijf zal crashen en iemand anders op het Internet neemt jouw naam en password over.
Het is nog maar pas in circulatie, vanaf dinsdag. Het is een nieuw en heel gemeen virus waarvan weinig mensen op de hoogte zijn.
Een nieuw virus werd pas ontdekt en volgens Microsoft normen is dit virus het meest (?) vernielend ooit!!!!!!!!!
Dit virus werd gisteren namiddag ontdekt door McAfee en er werd nog geen bescherming ontwikkeld.
Het virus vernietigt gewoon Sector Zero van de harde schijf, waar alle vitale informatie van de computer gestockeerd is.
Het virus werkt als volgt:
Het verzendt zich automatisch naar alle adressen van uw 'address book' onder de naam 'A Virtual Card for You' .
Zodra de zogezegde virtuele kaart geopend wordt, blokkeert de computer en moet de gebruiker heropstarten.
Op het ogenblik dat de toetsen 'ctrl+alt+del' of de reset toets gebruikt worden, vernietigt het virus Sector Zero, wat een definitieve vernietiging van de harde schijf betekent.
Volgens CNN heeft het virus gisteren in een paar uur tijd paniek gezaaid in New York.
Open dus geen e-mail met als onderwerp 'A ?virtual Card for You'. Zodra u zo 'n mail ontvangt, moet u deze ?onmiddellijk deleten.
Bovendien heeft Intel het bestaan van een andere zeer vernielende virus aangekondigd.
Indien u een e-mail ontvangt met ?als onderwerp 'An Internet Flower for You' , moet u deze onmiddellijk deleten, zonder te open.
Het virus vernielt alle 'dynamic link libraries' files (.DLL).
Uw pc zal onmogelijk kunnen heropstarten!
Stuur dit bericht naar al uw kennissen. Beter 25 maal ontvangen dan helemaal niet.
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