Malicious e-mail virus warning

[Barry]

This was sent to me by a friend and ought to be forwarded on:

READ AND HEED
>
> PLEASE INFORM EVERYONE
>
> Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sent and the
> moment that you open these emails your computer will crash and you will
> not be able to fix it!
>
> If you get an email along the lines of 'Osama Bin Laden Captured' or
> 'Osama Hanged', don't open the attachment.
>
> This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe,
> but mainly in the US and Israel
>
> Be considerate & send this warning to whoever you know.
>
> 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 attached file called 'Invitation'
> regardless of who sent it.
>
> It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch 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, that is why you should 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 'invitation' , though sent by a friend,
> do not open it and 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.
>
> SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW

Sound paticularly nasty!

[Jason P]

Barry,

Be careful! Often as not these are fakes, designed to harvest emails that are legitimate for spamming purposes. It's always worth googling them before sending to everyone in your inbox...

Look here (http://home.mcafee.com/VirusInfo/VirusProfile.aspx?key=140696)

and here (http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/osama.asp)

Snopes is always a good source, and from this you'll see that there was a virus - it just aint out there anymore. I never pass these on, nor the 'cute email send to everyone for good luck' ones as they end up on the spammer's databases...

Cheers,

Jason

[Barry]

Barry,

Be careful! Often as not these are fakes, designed to harvest emails that are legitimate for spamming purposes. It's always worth googling them before sending to everyone in your inbox...

Look here (http://home.mcafee.com/VirusInfo/VirusProfile.aspx?key=140696)

and here (http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/osama.asp)

Snopes is always a good source, and from this you'll see that there was a virus - it just aint out there anymore. I never pass these on, nor the 'cute email send to everyone for good luck' ones as they end up on the spammer's databases...

Cheers,

Jason

Thanks for that Jason,

I have forwarded the link to the source of my e-mail and fortunately had not as yet forwarded the (now bogus) alert to My Contacts.

Thanks again.

[REM]

I received this yesterday, look familiar?

READ IMMEDIATELY PLS

Get this sent around to your contacts ASAP....we don't need this spreading around.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS:
You should be alert during the next days:

Do not open any message with an attached file called 'Invitation' regardless of who sent it, It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch
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, that is why you should 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 ' invitation' , though sent by a friend, do not open it and 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, 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

SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW ,

COPY THIS E-MAIL AND SEND! IT TO YOUR FRIENDS

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

Seems like the spammers are out in force this new year!!

[Themis]

All mails having the following phrase :


Forward this to xxx contacts

are hoaxes and should be ignored. This is a 100% accurate rule.