Scams & Hoaxs I'm not a reporter, nor do I play one on TV, but I do want to make you all aware of a new scam creeping over the phone lines and onto the Internet. The scam works like this: you get a phone call or page or even e-mail saying a loved one has died, you will be sued, or you've won some fabulous prize, and you have to call a given phone number to find out who, avoid the lawsuit, or collect the prize. The phone number, even though it may look like a toll-free call, ends up being a call to the Caribbean. You either call an 809 area code or an 800 number that transfers you to the 809 toll call. They keep you on the phone as long as possible, and your phone bill at the end of the month is outrageous. You can visit this Web site for more information: http://www.cris.com/~snorkler/scam.htm. Please be careful with the "unbelievable," "make money fast," and "free" offers floating around the Internet. Just like most other things in life, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably costs you money--lots and lots of money. (Thanks to Jenn, the IC Hilites Editor.)As your know, there's an enormous amount of great information on the Interent--reliable information from reliable sources. But it's utterly important to remember that everything you read on the Internet is not gospel. You need to judge the information you get from the Internet in the same careful manner that you judge information that you get from other media. You're walking down the street and you see a headline: THE ALIENS ARE COMING. Are you more likely to believe it if it's on the cover of the New York Times, or on a leaflet someone hands to you on a street corner? In real life, we know instinctively to consider the source of information. On the Internet, we don't always remember to do that. Because of the ease of communication that the Internet offers, it can be unwittingly used to spread rumors and hoaxes -- information that can get people all upset, but just ain't so. I'm going to list some of the most common legends that I see in Internet e-mail and newsgroups. None of them are true. *The $250 cookie recipe -- after having enjoyed a snack of cookies at Neiman-Marcus (or Mrs. Fields, the story varies,) a customer asked for the recipe and was told there would be a charge of "two-fifty" for it. Upon receiving the monthly charge card bill, the customer is shocked to realize they'd meant $250, not $2.50, and now in revenge is spreading the recipe to everyone for free. This isn't true, and furthermore the cookies the recipe makes aren't very good. *The "Good Times" e-mail virus. This one gets spread far and wide because it plays on our fears of losing computer data. The story is that a virus called "Good Times" is carried within an e-mail message. Just reading a message with the words "Good Times" in the subject line will supposedly erase your hard drive, or even destroy your computer's processor. It's a hoax. You can't possibly get a computer virus just by reading an e-mail message. (For more details, read the Good Times Virus Hoax FAQ at http://www.nsm.smcm.edu/News/GTHoax.html) *Craig Shergold needs your get well cards. Craig Shergold was a boy who was dying of cancer. He wanted to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for receiving the most get well cards. People sent him cards, Craig won the world record on 1991... and people kept sending him cards. Craig recovered from his cancer years ago. He really does not want cards any more, and neither does his post office. *FCC Modem Tax. Every so often someone posts a dire warning that the FCC is considering a tax on modems and online services. The warning encourages you to tell your friends so they can take political action. It's a hoax. If you'll notice, the warnings don't include a date or a bill number. *Make Money Fast! The worst of the batch. Devised by David Rhodes in 1987 or 1988, "Make Money Fast" is an electronic version of a chain letter pyramid scheme. You're supposed to send money to the ten people on the list, then add your name to the list and repost the chain letter, committing federal wire fraud in the process. It's not only illegal, but mathematically improbable that you'll make any money, slowly or fast. (For more information, read the Make Money Fast FAQ at http://www.sanctum.com.au/josh/mmf/) When you receive a harried e-mail or Usenet post that says "forward this to all your friends!" and implores you to do something (be it making cookies, sending a card, making money fast or whatever,) consider the source! Is the message signed and dated? Are there details you can use to verify the information (such as addresses, bill numbers, phone numbers...) Do you know the person from who the mail is coming? If the answer to any of these questions is "no," take the message with a huge grain of salt.The National Fraud Information Center at http://www.fraud.com is a project of the National Consumers League, America's oldest nonprofit consumer organization. At this site you can obtain information on telemarketing fraud, internet fraud (what is it, what's been reported, how to report it yourself), learning to protect yourself and your hard earned dollars, and links to other agencies on the internet such as State Attorneys General and other resources. There is also a special section devoted to the Senior Netizens among us and an NFIC daily report. If you need to speak to someone at NFIC via voice there is even a toll free number listed.The Better Business Bureau is online and has a site at http://www.council.bbb.org. Here you have access to locations of BBB's in your community, the latest consumer warnings and other news from the BBB, consumer buying guides and business publications. You can also file complaints online and find out how BBB's help resolve marketplace disputes. Also posted at this site is their snail mail address (what your postal carrier delivers ), an e-mail address, and a phone number to contact the organization directly. Thanks to Aminie Elsberry (CJ Eagle) for this site description.If you need an additional site to post a complaint, check out the National Consumer Complaint Center at http://seamless.com/alexanderlaw/nccc/ sponsored by the Alexander Law Firm. The site is offered to provide a central location to report fraud on almost any consumer product you can think of including automobiles, cosmetics, veterinary drugs, pesticides, consumer products, computers, and internet fraud. Here you can complete an online form giving information on the date of the incident and description, among other pertinent information, and that is then forwarded by NCCC to the appropriate agency. Check out the companion site at http://consumerlawpage.com/ where there are over 100 consumer information brochures and articles. Thanks to Aminie Elsberry (CJ Eagle) for this site description.Make-A-Wish Foundation of America 100 W. Clarendon, Suite 2200 Phoenix, AZ 85013-3518 (800) 722-9474 Fax: (602) 279-0855 Media Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Call (800) 215-1333, ext. 184 for pre-recorded Craig Shergold message. UPDATE ON CRAIG SHERGOLD PHOENIX, AZ - - An unauthorized chain letter encouraging people to send business cards to a seriously ill boy continues to generate thousands of pieces of mail each day, even though the boy is now healed and the family has requested an end to the mail. News reports stated in 1989 that Craig Shergold, a 9-year-old English boy diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor, wanted to be recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for receiving the most greeting cards. His wish was fulfilled in 1990 after receiving 16 million cards. Shergold's tumor was successfully removed in March 1991. However, the cards and letters continue. Several versions of the letter exist, most of which wrongly claim that the young boy remains terminally ill and now wants to receive the largest number of business cards. The addressee is encouraged to gather business cards, forward them to an incorrect address in Georgia and then forward the chain letter to 10 friends. "The chain letter claims that Make-A-Wish is involved," stated James E. Gordon, Chairman of the Board of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. "That is not true. Our organization is not, and has never been associated with the letter. Yet our office continues to receive numerous phone calls each month about the letter, diverting our staff time and resources from our mission. The Make-A-Wish Foundation requests that people please stop sending business cards or greeting cards to Craig Shergold." The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America has set up a special 800 number to explain the situation. Callers can listen to a pre-recorded message by dialing (800) 215-1333, ext. 184. Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, based in Phoenix, has 82 chapters in the United States. Any child between the ages of two-and-a-half and 18 who has been determined to have a life-threatening illness is eligible to receive a wish. The first wish was granted in Phoenix in 1980, and since then Make-A-Wish has granted more than 37,000 wishes ranging from building a backyard fishing pond to an all-expense paid trip to Disney World. For further information regarding the Make-A-Wish Foundation and qualifying children, contact (800) 722-9474.Here is an excellent, but long, pair of articles about e-mail chain letters by Adam Engst. Reprinted with permission from TidBITS magazine: http://www.tidbits.com/ Back on the Chain Gang ---------------------- by Adam C. Engst (ace@tidbits.com) I've had it. I'm sick of receiving chain mail. I'm sure many of you have received these bits of oozing Internet abuse as well, ranging from the Good Times Virus hoax (it is a complete hoax, folks, and the damage it causes stems purely from being redistributed in email) to the latest petition for a worthy cause. Chain mail, if you're unfamiliar with the term, includes any message that asks you to forward it on to a bunch of your friends, leaving the exhortation to continue the forwarding intact. The topic of the message doesn't matter - chain mail of any sort is an abuse of the Internet and of your fellow Internet citizens. I don't know what happened, but chain mail has been clanking into my mailbox more frequently than ever before. First, the Good Times Virus hoax monopolized the discussion on the Apple Internet Users mailing list for a few days, then I got a copy of the standard "you'll have bad luck unless..." message and its raunchier "you'll have bad luck in bed unless..." cousin. They were followed by chain mail messages encouraging me to support PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and NPR (National Public Radio). Finally, I received a number of copies of a chain mail prank that hoped to result in tons of people sending a copy of the Bill of Rights to President Clinton's email address on the same day. That prank also appeared in some of the Apple Internet lists that Chuq von Rospach runs, and he unsubscribed the person who submitted it from all the lists within minutes of seeing the message, since chain mail is an express violation of the charter of those lists. What's so wrong with chain mail that I'm ranting about it in this article? Why is it cause to be blackballed from mailing lists? Why, if you send it to me, will I give you one warning and after that report you to your postmaster with the recommendation that your account be revoked? Have you ever played the game where you hypothetically place a penny on the lower left corner of a checkerboard, then double the number of pennies on each square, moving left to right and up each row? The second square contains two pennies, the third four, the fourth eight, the fifth sixteen, and so on. I say hypothetical game, because by the last square, you've amassed a vast fortune. Chain mail has the potential to grow even more quickly. If one person starts a piece of chain mail, they're unlikely to just send it to two other people, and each of those people (if they're sufficiently gullible to forward it on at all) are also unlikely to limit themselves to just two other people each. Many of us have tens of people in our address books, and some people probably have over a hundred people to whom they could send such trash. My impression is that most of the chain mail messages I see have about 25 people in the header, and if that impression is both real and continued at every generation, you can see how chain mail could grow exponentially and significantly slow down delivery of all other mail, as the many mail servers on the Internet struggle to process millions of copies of the same message. I'm sure there are technical solutions to the problem, and if it continues to get worse, someone will implement them, much as people invented cancelbots to cancel spam postings on Usenet. We shouldn't let it get that far though, since chain mail is not a technical problem. It's a societal problem, and by participating in it you allow someone else to exploit you for their purposes. Even worse, you help them exploit even more people, wasting more time, disk space, and money than before. It's bad enough to be a victim, but it's worse to become an accessory. So, if you receive chain mail of any sort, don't forward it on. Delete it immediately and break the chain before it has a chance to enslave others. I also always send back a short note (a piece of boilerplate text these days) telling the original sender what they've done wrong and asking them never to repeat the mistake. Perhaps we can put an end to chain mail by refusing to participate and by educating those who are either gullible or don't yet see the error of their ways. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Breaking the Chain ------------------ by Adam C. Engst (ace@tidbits.com) My article on chain mail in TidBITS-324_ elicited more responses than I'd anticipated. They fell into a couple of categories that I found interesting, and I thought I'd share some of the information with you. **Creative Responses** -- Several people wrote in with creative responses to chain mail messages. One group keeps a list of ten volunteers who are willing to receive chain mail messages from anyone within that organization who can't bring themselves to break the chain of a "bad luck" message. Needless to say, those ten volunteers delete the messages to ensure that the chain goes no further, and the people who forward the mail don't worry about a spate of bad luck. There's also a clever piece of chain mail that frees "its recipients from the need to send future chain-letters." I have no idea how effective it is, but it should confuse the superstitious types (what happens when you have one chain mail note promising good luck if you send it along, and another promising bad luck if you do?). A number of people requested my boilerplate response to chain mail messages I receive. My impression is that many people feel uncomfortable informing the senders of chain mail of what they've done wrong, especially since people who forward chain mail seldom act out of spite. This bit of text is no masterpiece of prose, but feel free to use it as a reply to anyone who sends you chain mail. "By forwarding that message to me, you have participated in electronic chain mail, which not only irritates everyone involved but is also an abuse of the Internet. You have allowed someone to exploit you for their purposes. Even worse, you have helped them exploit even more people and waste more time, bandwidth, disk space, and money. It's bad enough to be a victim, but it's worse to become an accessory. If everyone forwarded every piece of chain mail to the number of people requested, normal email delivery would grind to a halt, thanks to the exponential growth of chain mail. Please do not ever forward chain mail again." Finally, Mark Horne comments: For chain letters that involve sending money via the U.S. Mail (which is illegal, and commonly referred to as a "ponzi" scheme), you can alert the United States Postal Service by sending a hard copy of the offending document to: Postal Inspector In Charge United States Postal Inspection Service Operations Support Group 222 South Riverside Plaza Suite 1250 Chicago IL 60606-6100 They'll investigate, send warning letters or take legal action as appropriate, and send you a letter explaining what transpired (it may take a long time, however). http://www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect/chainlet.htm **What about worthy causes?** Several readers wrote in to say they felt chain mail about worthy causes was justified in some instances. I feel there is no cause worthy enough to justify abusing the Internet via chain mail. Those that use chain mail to promote a cause risk far greater damage to their reputations. Using chain mail for worthy causes suffers from two basic problems. First, even if the information in a piece of chain mail was accurate at one time, situations change. The classic piece of chain mail is the one that requests that postcards be sent to Craig Shergold, a dying boy in England. Guess what? Craig was cured, he's quite a bit older now, and the postcards keep coming, overwhelming the local post office. Craig was a classic good cause, but chain mail turned his wish for postcards into a nightmare. http://www.eff.org/papers/eegtti/eeg_81.html#SEC82 Second, there are without a doubt a ton of good causes. If they all decided to use chain mail in order to raise money or gain support, the Internet would be swamped. Then there's the issue of differences in opinion - your good cause may be my anathema, and vice versa. Of course, once a good cause proved successful, how far behind would the con artists and scam mongers be? The only way to deal with chain mail is to stop it whenever it rears its head. Worthy causes can use other tools available on the Internet to garner support. For instance, the Web is ideal for disseminating information. You can update a Web page with the latest information so what's disseminated is never inaccurate. A Web page can also provide source information so people can check for themselves and decide if they agree with you. You can even collect names for an online petition on a Web form. **Identifying and Analyzing Chain Mail** -- I'd like to leave you with a few bits of advice on how to identify and analyze chain mail. * Look for specifics, especially a cut-off date, a court case number, or an FCC docket number. Most chain mail doesn't contain much specific information, because otherwise people would see that it was a hoax. * Look for an authoritative source. Who is the message from originally? Who forwarded it to you? (Be wary if you don't know the person who forwarded it.) Remember, it's easy to forge email. Also, if the message doesn't come with an email address or Web page from which you can get more information, it's likely to be chain mail. http://www.crew.umich.edu/~chymes/newusers/Think.html http://www.utopia.com/mailings/rre/chain.letter.petitions.html * Verify the situation. Recently there was a furor over a proposed newsgroup called rec.music.white-power. The first chain mail message I saw exhorting people to vote against the group didn't contain the call for votes (CFV) and without the CFV, there was no way to tell when the voting would end. Research in DejaNews revealed the voting had been over for almost a month, but the results hadn't been released. You must take everything with a grain of salt, but the more information you have, the better. http://www.dejanews.com/ * Finally, don't be gullible. Just because something appears in an email message doesn't mean it's true or has any bearing on reality. Think before you act and encourage others to do the same.Online Scams: Road Hazards on the Information Superhighway This information provided thanks to the Federal Trade Commission at http://www.ftc.gov. Fast facts *Cyberspace has become the new frontier for scam artists. The scams aren't new, just the medium. *Fraudulent sellers use computer services to promote familiar schemes such as bogus stock offerings, high-tech investment opportunities, and credit-repair services. *Treat all ads or would-be ads with skepticism and never make an investment or health-related purchase decision based solely on information obtained from a single source in any medium-- print, broadcast, or online. The latest "roadhazards" on the information superhighway are scams broadcast over rapidly-growing computer networks and electronic bulletin board services. The scams aren't new, just the medium. Some con artists who always used telemarketing, infomercials, newspapers and magazines, and the mail to attract consumers to their products, services, or investment schemes, now have turned to the Internet and the online services of Cyberspace as the new medium to promote their scams. "Cyberspace," a term used to describe this information superhighway and giant computer network, includes the Internet and a vast assortment of commercial online computer services. The Internet and the many commercial online services provide a valuable new information source for consumers. However, Cyberspace has a dark side: fraudulent sellers use these computer services to promote familiar schemes such as bogus stock offerings, credit-repair services, and exotic or high-tech investment opportunities such as ostrich farming, gold mining, gemstones, and wireless cable television. Promotions for ineffective weight-loss and health-related products and programs also appear online. The bottom line is: treat all ads or would-be ads with skepticism and never make an investment or health-related purchase decision based solely on information obtained from a single source in any medium-- print, broadcast, or online. Types of Advertising on Online Services Most questionable online advertising falls into one of two categories: classified advertising and "disguised advertising." Classified Advertising Classified advertising has the greatest number of questionable ads. No matter where you look in classified ads online, chances are some will contain some false and misleading claims. For example, many classified ads promote quick and easy weight-loss products and programs. It is highly unlikely that any of them can deliver on their promises. Another hot area in the classifieds is "business opportunities." The traditional "work-at-home" schemes, such as making handcrafts or stuffing envelopes, have been replaced by offers to "use your home PC to make money fast in your spare time." Other ads encourage consumers to invest in communications technologies, such as "900" number telephone services, with promises of high returns and low-risk. The investment attraction of "900" number pay-per-call services is the potentially-high profits to be made--20% or more--from the $3-to-$5 per minute fee charged to callers by the 900 service provider. Again, the marketers' promises on these investments are likely to be false. "Disguised Advertising" The second category, "disguised advertising," is difficult to recognize because it is not always clear if something is being advertised. There are at least two different areas--bulletin boards and chat forums--where comments or statements about the quality or the performance of products or services may be ads in disguise. The Internet and the commercial online services all provide bulletin boards where interested parties can exchange information in general topic areas. In some cases, individuals contributing to the bulletin board have financial ties to companies or businesses that sell products or services related to the bulletin board subject area. But, this may not be obvious to the online user. What may appear to be an open discussion could be a disguised sales pitch. Because the full identities or affiliations of online bulletin board operators and participants are not always known, it could be difficult for you to detect disguised advertising. Some commercial online services also provide live discussion groups called "chat rooms" or "chat forums." Service subscribers can "drop by" and engage in an online conversation by typing in their comments. These forums provide the opportunity to discuss a wide variety of things, including products and services. Some marketers have used these chat forums to promote their products without disclosing their interests. Growth of Cyberspace and Fraud Potential The fast-growing arena of cyberspace has become the new frontier for scam artists. There are approximately 15 million Internet users in the United States and that number is increasing each month, according to industry sources. The largest commercial online services are estimated to have more than five million subscribers in the United States. All of these online users are potential targets from the scam artist's point of view. Tip-offs to Fraud The same things that cause concern in traditional print and broadcast media should be viewed with skepticism online. Here are some of the warning signs of questionable online advertising: *Overstated claims of product effectiveness, such as "Cures or improves 27 different conditions: Hypertension, some forms of cancer, age spots, ulcers, lowers weight..." *Use of hype titles and frequent use of the word "hot" to describe an investment opportunity can indicate a scam. *Exaggerated claims of potential earnings or profit, such as "We target a return of 2 to 5% per month (up to 60% per year)...on your protected principal. That is, YOUR PRINCIPAL IS GUARANTEED...no loss is possible." *Claims of "inside" information. Such information is almost always false and, if true, trading on it is almost always illegal. *"Pump and Dump" promotions of cheap stocks promising high returns. *Promotions for exotic investments such as ostrich farming, gold mining, or wireless cable TV. Remember, the bottom line is: never make a purchase decision for these kinds of investments or products based solely on information obtained from a single source--electronic bulletin board, online chatroom, newspaper or direct-mail ad, or broadcast commercial. Be skeptical and check sources and references. For More Information If you have a question or complaint about a suspect online ad or promotion, contact your commercial service provider. In addition, you can file complaints with your state attorney general, consumer protection office or with the Federal Trade Commission (write to: Correspondence Branch, Federal Trade Commission, 6th St. & Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20580). Also, contact the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, 845 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022. Questions about whether or not an investment sales person is licensed, or if an offered security is registered, should be directed to the Office of Consumer Affairs, Securities and Exchange Commission, 202-942-7040. The National Fraud Information Center maintains a toll-free Consumer Assistance Service, 1-800-876-7060, to provide consumers with answers to questions about telephone or mail solicitations and online scams. They also offer information about how and where to report fraud and give help in filing complaints. The Federal Trade Commission publishes a series of free brochures that explain fraudulent sales practices and how you can avoid them. For a complete list of publications, write for Best Sellers, Public Reference, Federal Trade Commission, Washington, D.C. 20580; (202) 326-2222; TDD (202) 326-2502. You also can access FTC consumer and business publications on the Internet. FTC ConsumerLine is located on the Internet at CONSUMER.FTC.GOV or through the World Wide Web at http://www.ftc.gov