Hoax Hoax Warnings

Occasionally a weather cycle in the natural world will bring a plague of mice or moths or caterpillars and in a not-dissimilar fashion a cyber world cycle will occasionally bring a plague of viruses (or “malware” as it’s fashionably called these days).

Among Best of Breed are the very plausible “share-this-warning-about-a-virus” viruses. Whoever writes this stuff knows that, unlike themselves, the vast majority of people in this world actually care about each other and they trade on the fact that if they send them a dire warning and urge them to spread it wide and far, they will.

Presto! Instant virus!

The latest one of these to cross my Outlook was the “Hallmark Hoax” with a subject line shouting “PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!” and warning of an email with a Postcard from Hallmark attachment. It goes on to intone that “This is the worst virus announced by CNN. It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.”

The warning IS the hoax and when well-meaning souls start spreading it vigorously to everyone in their contact’s list, the hoaxer gets his or her jollies.

Look Before You Leap

Next time you receive such a warning, before you forward it to anyone, do a quick Google for “Hoax” followed by the keywords in the warning. That way you can avoid the embarrassment of becoming just another hoaxer’s apprentice!