Forwarded Emails


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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Facebook TimeLine Hoax - Forwarded again

The message comes like this (depends on the twists and turns):

With the new 'FB timeline' on its way this week for EVERYONE...please do both of us a solid: Hover over my name above. In a few seconds you'll see a box that says "Subscribed." Hover over that, then go to "Comments and Likes" and unclick it. That will stop my posts and yours to me from showing up on the side bar for everyone to see, but MOST IMPORTANTLY it LIMITS HACKERS from invading our profiles. If you re-post this I will do the same for you.

What others are doing to tell you the otherwise? Read the following:
  • A Hoax-Slayer Nutshell: Protest Message Rails Against New Facebook Timeline
  • Harry Waldron - Computer Security News
  • Snoops link verifing that it a hoax
  • Scams target anti-Timeline Facebook users, USA TODAY
    Extract: As a company, Facebook has tried to educate its millions of users, pointing out options, updating security information, and answering privacy concerns. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that's been enough, with more than 70,000 people joining anti-Timeline pages across the board.
  • Protect Your Facebook Account from the Latest Hack
  • Friday, December 9, 2011

    Better Business Bureau scammed

    Staff Reports
    Posted: 12/09/2011 12:44:34 AM PST

    SACRAMENTO — The Better Business Bureau of Northeast California, an organization accustomed to warning consumers about scams and shady business practices, finds itself a pawn in a suspected fraud.

    The BBB said consumers and businesses throughout Northern California are receiving emails pretending to have come from the bureau, but are actually random attempts to gain financial information, known as "phishing."

    The bureau said the emails appear to be complaint forms, and have a variety of subject lines including operations@-bbb.org, support@bbb.org and riskmanager@bbb.org. continue reading

    Tuesday, December 6, 2011

    Forwarding Chain Emails Prime Target For Hackers

    Greensboro - Email has become a part of daily life for most, but what many people don't know is how easily your email can be taken over by hackers. continue reading or Watch this video:

    Sunday, April 24, 2011

    Beware of e-mail scam offering to rescue friends - To all with love and malice towards none

    1. Police warn of another email scam
    2. "Poorly worded" email plea prompts scam worries‎, April 23, 2011, dailypress.com ["Tornado Damages Moton Campus — We Need Your Help!"]
    3. Police Newsletter: Crime: 13 April 2011, Thames Valley Police, UK
    4. Beware of e-mail scam offering to rescue friends - Topix
    5. Something phishy is going on
    6. 5 Natural Disaster Scams To Watch For
    7. Beware of new phishing email Dodge County News, 16 Apr 2011


    On the same shelf:

    Saturday, March 12, 2011

    Boycott Gasoline: not buying gas on March 14, a chain letter circulating since 1999

    Boycott Gasoline? Why Gas Urban Legends Won't Affect Prices, Aaron Crowe, http://www.walletpop.com
    The email chain letter or Facebook invitations wading their way through the Internet this week are enticing to anyone who has had to fill up their car with gas lately: "Join a national protest by not buying gas on March 14!" Or, "Send a message to Big Oil by boycotting gasoline for a day."

    But like every urban legend, it sounds good until you look at the details and realize it's the same misinformation that has been passed around for years. There are plenty of legitimate ways to save on gas, but these myths won't do it.

    The gas boycott that has been called for in some form of a chain letter since 1999 is based on a flawed premise. The "gas out" doesn't ask people to use less gas, only to change their date of purchase and buy it a day earlier or later than they normally would, according to a Snopes.com analysis of the rumor. continue reading: http://www.walletpop.com

    On the Same Shelf:
  • FBI Warns of Three Online Scams: Sex, Taxes and a Desktop Hijack [source]
  • Saturday, February 19, 2011

    Coca Cola’s Secret Recipe ‘Exposed’, Claims Website - Is it true or false?

    Link Newspaper (leading Indo-Canadian Newspaper), February 18th, 2011
    LONDON – The ingredients of Coca Cola have always been a mystery. Now, a website claims to have uncovered the soft drink’s top secret recipe which is said to be guarded 24 hours a day in a vault in Atlanta, Georgia.

    ‘Thisamericanlife.org’ claims to have discovered a list in a photograph in a newspaper article giving the secret ingredients and exact quantities to make the drink which was founded by John Pemberton, a medicinal pharmacist in 1886. continue reading



    However, Toronto Life's update, "Recipe theft and cancer scares: rounding up Coca-Cola’s bad week," February 19, 2011 reports:

    "Coca-Cola reps fired back this week, denying the accuracy of the leaked recipe. Spokeswoman Kerry Tressler told Reuters:

    “Many third parties, including ‘This American Life,’ have tried to crack our secret formula. Try as they might, they’ve been unsuccessful because there is only one ‘Real Thing.’" continue reading Toronto Life

    See also on the same shelf:
  • Team CoCo... Cola @ This american life.org
  • Coke has no alcohol in it, says manufacturer, The Economic Times
  • Coca-Cola's secret recipe on tap, "Coca-Cola's secret recipe reportedly revealed by radio show" Vancouver Sun February 15, 2011
    [See the (alleged) Coca-Cola recipe, ingredient by ingredient, here]
  • Coca Cola Recipe Possibly Uncovered, ChatterShmatter.com
  • What's in your soft drink? Safety of 'caramel colour' questioned, ‎ Globe and Mail
  • Coca-Cola Series, The Form of Money
  • Saturday, December 11, 2010

    Empty promises says Snopes: For an empty stomach

    Thanks to the research @ http://www.snopes.com/ 'Rumor has it.' It is all about the forwarded email:
    'YOU NEED NOT DIE FROM CANCER - CURE IS HERE,
    WHY DIE FROM CANCER?
    Cancer Treatment: ALWAYS EAT FRESH FRUIT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.'

    Extract from Snopes.com :
    Claim:   Fruit must be eaten on an empty stomach in order for the body to absorb it properly.

    SNOPE's find this as:
    FALSE
    Origins:   The item quoted above, typically titled "The Correct Way of Eating Fruits," has been circulating on the Internet since August 2001. It was written in 1998 by Devagi Sanmugam, a chef and culinary writer who lives in Singapore.

    The Dr. Herbert Shelton mentioned in the e-mail was a well-known health educator and author who died in 1985. Dr. Shelton held a doctorate degree in naturopathy rather than medicine and was arrested numerous times for practicing medicine without a license.

    As to the substance of the advice being proffered, the nutritional value of a piece of fruit is the same whether it's eaten on an empty stomach or after a meal. Beliefs regarding ingesting fruit unaccompanied by any other foodstuff and/or only on an empty stomach, appear to have come from various weight loss gurus, the earliest of which might be Harvey and Marilyn Diamond.

    In the 1980s, part of the regimen advocated by the Diamonds, authors of Fit for Life, dictated that nothing but fruit and fruit juices be consumed before noon. (They believed the body has three natural cycles regarding its use of food: noon to 8 p.m. for eating and digestion, 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. for absorption and use, and 4 a.m. to noon for elimination of body wastes and food debris. Fruit in the morning — and nothing but fruit at that time — is therefore key Continue reading

    Wednesday, June 9, 2010

    My ad about a 2002 Chevy in Craiglist: Fake Spam Email

    I am not alone to receive this fake blessing, you may also be one of those who are spammed--I neither have a van nor advertised for it in the New York's Craigslist. The message looks 100% genuine, and official:

    Confirmation for Posting ID# 1779115062
    Your ad, titled '2002 Chevrolet 3500 Express Van' has been posted as follows:
    http://newyork.craigslist.com/ctd/1779115061.html (cars & trucks - by dealer)

    Posts will appear in the list of postings and in search results in about 15 minutes.
    If you have trouble finding your ad, please check our help page: [?]
    Please log in into your account if you need to edit or delete your posting:
    https://acount.craigslist.org/login

    If you did not post this ad please change your account password asap:
    https://acount.craigslist.org/login/chgpwd
    For your protection please check our list of common scams.
    Thanks for using craigslist!

    A consumer protectionist, John Stark, reports the same fake email, read his experience (interestingly John and me received this email today, and we hereby advise you not to click on this fake email message):

    Fun with craigslist

    June 9th, 2010
    Here’s a bogus e-mail that hit my inbox seconds ago. It asks me to verify the ad I supposedly posted for a 2002 Chevy van. Said ad, of course, does not exist. The game appears to be: Let’s get this guy’s craigslist password for fun and profit. But since I don’t have a craigslist account, the scheme didn’t work.

    Read more: http://blogs.bellinghamherald.com/consumer/#ixzz0qPoGbEoT

    Tuesday, April 20, 2010

    A bit of humour to end the day in this timezone... Yet another forward, but KM related

    Thanks to Lucie and Allison for forwarding it; sent on the KM4dev Dgroups: .
    Top 10 Reasons You Know you're working at an aid organization headquarters if...
    1.You just had a pre-meeting to discuss your strategy planning session for the new initiative to reduce poverty by increasing access to safe water/credit/food/health care through fair and equitable distribution to those with the right to said good or service through engagement with duty bearers in the government and other stakeholders and civil society organizations.
    2.You just repeatedly slammed your head into your keyboard after spending the last 20 minutes trying to get your Skype conference call between Port au Prince, West Bank/Gaza, Delhi, Nairobi and New York to work only to fail miserably...
    6.You realize that you just used cheers, karibu, Insh'Allah or namaste in casual conversation despite the fact that you are neither English, Kenyan, Arab or Indian.
    7.You realize that your favorite and most frequented cafe is located in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.
    8.You just finished depressing a volunteer caller from the Red Cross for the 12th time this year who reluctantly agreed that you are not eligiable to donate blood because you just got back from .
    9.You're pumped with antibiotics more frequently than a cow in a concentrated feeding operation.
    10.You tell yourself it's not failure if you turn it into a lessons-learned document.
    Continue reading all the Top 10 Reasons You Know You're Working at an Aid Organization Headquarters, by Brooks Keene