Hoaxes and Urban Legends: "Osama captured" / "Osama hanged" virus hoax

The following email is one such hoax. Though there really was a virus that used a message about Osama bin Laden captured or hanged to entrap people to open a virus-attachment, that was several years ago. Current virus scanners would catch this virus if it still circulated. Also, the Olympic torch / Invitation virus mentioned in this chain letter is a known hoax. Therefore do not forward that hoax email to others.

Please review:

Osama Bin Laden Virus Warning Hoax (Trend Micro)
Messages that Claim to Have Pictures of Osama Bin Laden's Suicide is Actually a Virus-Truth! & Fiction! (truthorfiction.com)

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 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)

Example chain letter:

Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 9:33 AM
Subject: warning


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.

This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe, but
mainly in the US and Israel.

Be considerate & send this warning to whomever you know.

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 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, 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.

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