Chain letters

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Chain letters

"The Ericsson Company is distributing free computer lap-tops in an
attempt to match Nokia that has already done so. Ericsson hopes to increase
its popularity this way. For this reason, they are giving away the new
WAP Laptops. All you need to qualify is to send this mail to 8 people you
know. Within 2 weeks, you will receive Ericsson T18. But if you can send it
to 20 people or more, you will receive Ericsson R320. There are people
within our building who have received their laptops so I thought I would share
this info with you in hopes that you get one before the give them all out!"

"Make sure to send a copy to: anna.swelung@ericcson.com"

I am going to start off by being very blunt: You are a fool if you think that ANY chain letter is true, or that email petitions are effective, and so forth.

When it comes to chain letters, there are always plenty of problems, such as:

  • How old is it? There are chain letters still going around which are at least a decade old. Of course, if there is a date, it gets "fixed", so that it looks new. The original variant of the one above is at least 7 years old.
  • A number of charities waste a lot of (donated) money to respond to email and letters dealing with faked chain letters (their alternative is to simply ignore them, possibly annoying potential contributors). The result? Forwarding such chain letters has malicious results. Note that most charities RECEIVE money, not GIVE money. For an example, see http://www.wish.org/about/chain_letters.
  • "Within 2 weeks, you will receive ...". How do they know that you forwarded it, and how do they get your shipping address without violating privacy and other laws and privacy policies? At least THIS hoax tells you to forward to the company, but most similar hoaxes do not, they simply invoke magic.
  • How do they know that all of the email addresses that you sent to are real... and that you aren't selfishly spamming someone that you don't know in order to get your freebie? Depending upon the domain, there may be no real way to know if an email address is real or not.
  • This type of email is so blatantly obvious that I never bother to waste my time to even read them, much less check to see if it is a hoax; I only do so if someone asks me, as in the case of this one. My thought is: "If you have to ask if it is a hoax, the answer is that yes it is a hoax". It takes me MUCH less time to check than it does to type a reply (and also less time than it takes to forward to 20 people); I open my browser, type key words (such as ERICSSON FREE LAPTOP HOAX) into the search box, and look at the results listed. I don't even have to click on any of the links, since I can see the word "hoax" many times in the results, with enough context to tell that they are making a statement of fact, not asking a question. Or, go to the site of the company in question and search. In this case, go to the Ericsson site, type something like "Anna free laptop" in the search box, and the first link (in this case) mentions a variant of the chain letter.
  • If you have ANY respect for the people that you forward to, then you should be sure that you are forwarding GOOD stuff, not drivel such as hoaxes. Do the homework yourself.
  • If you really believe everything that you see, then I have some oceanfront property in Arizona that I'd like to sell you cheap, with a couple of bridges thrown in for free! Offer expires tomorrow, and I'm giving a deep 90% discount! Plus, I know this loan shar... er, a private loan broker who can give you excellent terms, without a credit or income check.
  • A legitimate offer will provide a link to a web page on the site of the company making the offer, which will repeat all of what the email says. I have seen well-designed hoaxes which do provide links to support SOME of what the email says, but not ALL.
  • "Forward this email". Reality check, please! If it really is good, people don't eed to be told to forward it.
  • Guilt trip. Many chain letters lay a guilt trip on you, such as "you will suffer bad luck for the next 7 years if you don't...". The chain letter shown above does not need to say anything, because the readers create their own guilt trip: "I won't get a free laptop if I don't".
  • Authority. Many chain letters drop the names of large companies and well-known people in order to sound real and important.
  • Many times when you receive a chain letter, it will have dozens or hundreds of email addresses of other receipients. If you have ANY respect for the privacy of the people that you send any emails to (unless they all already know each other), you should use the BCC: option instead of the TO: or CC: option. These extra email addresses may also get used by spammers; see http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/09/01/spam.chainletter.
  • In the case of the chain letter shown above, do you REALLY think that a company would give out a personal email address for forwarding emails to, instead of a special address just for the purpose? The first thought that comes to my mind is that if Anna were real, someone must really hate her. A flood of emails (actually spam) would qualify as a "denial of service" attack, and if you were one of the senders of the email, that makes you an accomplice to a crime.
  • Forwarding chain letters from a work email address is a no-no; virtually all employers specifically prohibit this.
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