To Mary & others,
Please do not post off-topic messages like this to the list.
The best thing to do with "chain mail" is just delete it.
The letter Mary has forwarded below is just another chain mail hoax, and the author is
giving you instructions on how to make chain mail not look like chain mail. You can check
out this, and other hoaxes and rumors here:
http://urbanlegends.about.com/culture/urbanlegends/library/blhoax.htm
Ernie
From: "Mary Winter" <wintermary(a)hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 03 May 2000 16:38:06 MDT
To: INGIBSON-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: Fwd: Off Topic / Dangers of Forwarding Email/Porn
The dangers of forwards !!!!!
I 'm not sure if this is true (the story part) but I do often wonder
why people leave prior recipients on email forwards...especially
those not business' related! Not to mention what a pain it is to scroll
through tons of headers, etc. If you are like me, you may have had
unsolicited mail that could have come from a friend of a friend of a
friend who forwarded your address through cyber space into infinity.
There is a simple way we can prevent this from continuing. . .
So..if you don't do anything else today...read this! em :)
IMPORTANT!!!
I've tried to tell people this, but I keep receiving messages
with long lists of prior recipients. Maybe, the message below will give a
better perspective of things. This is a practice I almost always use! I may
have missed 1 or 2 here or there but not many! This really is an important
message because I have noticed that many of my friends send me things that
they have received from other friends. While it seems easy to just lick
forward and put our friend's names in the TO field of our email program's
address box, it really is a dangerous thing to do.
This story illustrates just how dangerous it can be. Please read it.
(I am placing these instructions before the story so that you will
know how to forward your email in the future.) Before you forward this
message or any other message to someone, please do the following:
(NOT HARD TO DO)
1. REMOVE all email addresses that were forwarded or sent to you on the
message. Use the delete key, or the editing functions on your email
program after you hit the Forward key.
2. DO NOT use the TO field to send the mail on. USE the BCC field.
This means "Blind Carbon Copy". It will list only the name of
each individual receiver on the email. NOBODY ELSE'S email address
will be shown. TO USE BCC: Simply click BCC instead of TO. It
works just the same. If you add names from your address book, just
add them to the BCC field instead of the TO field. As an added
bonus of using this feature, your email message won't have all those
addresses at the beginning. No one will have to scroll through the
addresses to get to the message That you have sent. Please take the
time to read this. It could prove to be Very important. The following
individual asked not to be identified, but she asked that this
letter be forwarded to anyone who does not bcc (blind carbon copy)
online... and to spread the word.
Please read this:
Late one evening, while online, I received an IM (Internet message)
from a gentleman who said he knew me through mutual pals online.
We chatted for an hour or so before deciding to keep in touch, as we
had so many things in common. I eventually, after a week or so of
knowing him, trusted him with my name (first name) and phone number; after
all, he knew my friends and I felt he must have been ok if they all liked
and knew him. He knew a lot about them, he knew a lot about me, and he knew
a lot about a lot! He seemed like such a nice person, a pleasant person, and
someone whom I felt very comfortable sharing my time online (and on the
phone) with. One night, a friend from our group of friends invited me to a
chat room where several of the friends had gathered and were chatting when
this gentleman popped into the chat room. He popped in and then left
quickly. Then, for the first time since I met and started chatting with him,
I mentioned him to one of the friends who was in the chat room one whom this
gentleman claimed association with. She was in total awe, she did not know
who he was! Things were beginning to look really suspicious. The more she
and I chatted, the more suspicious it became. It also became apparent that
this guy knew none of us. Suddenly, he disappeared off line for a few
days...then one day he pops back in and sends me an IM saying that we need
to talk. He called me at my home and I was very upset, so I asked him how he
really found me and why he had felt the need to lie in the first place. This
is where you all need to pay attention: He told me
that he spotted my screen name on a forward that one of my friends
sent to someone else. My screen name is what attracted him. He then
used the screen name of others on the list of forwards to acquaint himself
with me and various others from our clique of friends. He also used the
member directory (at AOL) to look up info about others on the list of
forwards, so not to look suspicious. He said he felt it was the only way he
would have the chance to get to know me, and the main attraction to me was
"My Screen name" because he thought it was "sexy!" I was upset,
needless to
say, as I had trusted this man with my personal info...such as phone number
and name. He also knew where I lived (thanks to the phone bill) and I was
now his prey! A few days after having last talked to this person and
thinking that was the last of him, I received a phone call at 4:00 a.m., it
has this man telling me he was in town to see a friend who lived 20 minutes
from my house, and wanted to know if I would like to meet him for coffee or
breakfast. When I told him it was not such a good idea, he became irate and
hung up on me. I immediately called him back (caller ID) and explained to
him that my husband was back home (trying to scare him) and please not
be so mad (in fear of him and what he might do). Telling him that my husband
had returned and we were reconciling was a lie, and I told him this to make
him think I was not alone! Imagine the feeling I felt in the pit of my
stomach when he came back with the following response "You're a lying bitch,
your husband is not there with you...you are alone!" I hung up on him and
immediately called the Broward County Sheriff's office and told them what
had happened. They sent an officer over to take a report and said that was
really all they could do for me at that time. So, I packed a few belongings
into my car, and drove to my sister's home for the night. Fifteen or twenty
minutes after I arrived at her home, I received a phone call from this man
again! He knew I called the Sheriff and reported him, he knew where I was
and he knew my sister and her husband's names! People, let me tell you
something, this man had been stalking me for weeks and I had no idea! I
walked, ate, slept and breathed in constant fear until he was finally
arrested for stalking! Not for stalking me! Nope! For stalking another lady
who lived in Kendall, FL. I wanted to share this with you all. And yes, it
is all true. Friends, when you forward things and you leave your friends
names out in plain view like that, you are putting THEM and YOURSELF in what
could be grave danger. I hope I have gotten this message across; as I have
not even begun to mention his assault (rape, using deadly force) charges the
detectives from Broward County and
Kendall, FL uncovered on him while investigating his prior history!
People, please! Be safe, be careful and BLIND CARBON COPY(BCC)! This is NOT
a joke and NOT a hoax. PLEASE REMEMBER: It is Important to *remove ALL
personal email when forwarding items from this, or any other list to
individuals or other discussion groups (unless the mssage asks readers to
contact them via email or phone). Remember, a lot of us have a great deal of
information in our sig's (signature files that appear at the bottom of many
of our messages). In addition, the blind carbon copy (Bcc) option makes the
individuals you send email to unseen by all other recipients E-mailers
should also cut email addresses from forwards when forwarding the message
on. I know I have received unsolicited e-mails from individuals who have
gotten my address via a forwarded message from this group. Although more
annoying than serious, it could have been worse.
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