STOP Chain Email

How many of you receive on a daily basis those “forward” emails, such as funnies, hoaxes, jokes, surveys, chain letters, prayer requests, fake virus warnings, surveys, petitions, political attacks, etc. ?

Are we that gullible?  The answer is resoundingly, YES!

I particularly like the ones where if you forward a prayer request to 10 people your prayers will be answered. I tried that one once and prayed that I would stop receiving chain emails!  That one didn’t work either; I am getting more of them : ) Besides, if your moment of religion is forwarding these types of emails, you better get your butt in Church.

I am going to give you some good advice. Delete forward emails, such as indicated, on the spot! I have yet to truly find one that really is of any benefit. Do not become part of the lie. Email chains spread panic,  insecurity, misinformation, and hate. Email chains are bandwidth hogs that lessen the effectiveness of email as a communication medium. As a matter of fact, we are destroying the credibility and security of our email systems because we are creating an environment of propaganda where we do not know what is true and what is not true.  I can tell you this much, if you rely on forward emails as your information source,  especially those with a political agenda, then you are truly lessening your credibility as a person in the know.

Keep in mind every time you forward that email, your email address is added to the other hundreds (and thousands) of email addresses that  have already been harvested.  In essence you are giving away information about yourself that could circulate worldwide and come back to haunt you. Chain emails feed on a persons psychic to the point that you, in good conscience, feel you need to forward it on!  Again, do not forward these emails and simply delete them.

An example of a chain email that is designed to instill fear:

Subject: Fw: FW: Virus Coming

Hi All,

I just got this message from a friend I thought you need to be aware of … I checked with Norton  Anti-Virus, and they are  gearing up for this  virus! I checked Snopes, and  it is for real. Get this E-mail message sent around to your contacts   ASAP.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS  WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND  CONTACTS!

You  should be alert  during the next few days. Do not  open any message with an attachment  entitled  ’POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,’regardless of who sent it  to  you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD  IMAGE, 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. This is  the reason why you need to 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’ POSTCARD,’ even though  sent to you by a friend, do not open it!  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.

COPY  THIS E-MAIL, AND  SEND IT TO YOUR  FRIENDS.

REMEMBER:  IF YOU SEND  IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF  US

Again, simply stated; “delete forward emails”; HOWEVER, if you feel the need to confirm information you receive in your email,  Google it; OR use Snopes,  Hoaxbusters,  Hoax-Slayer, or ChainLetters.net, to name a few. I usually head to Snopes first…

“There is only one reason these things exist: to harvest the “live” e-mail addresses of *gullible* people”. [Tech Paul - Tech-for Everyone]

“Believe nothing and verify everything!”

post to jaanix

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