HoaxBusters

Threat Chains

Threat chains are chain letters that threaten to do something to you, your computer, or to someone else if you do not pass on the chain. The groups making the threats generally claim to be able to track who you send e-mail to so they will know if you have passed it on or not. E-mail tracking, which is generally not possible, is also claimed in many of the Give-Away Hoaxes


Threat Chains

Not a Joke Virus Threat
AOL Riot June 1, 1998
MSN ß®øöô¥ £.¼ Hacker List Threat
Bad Babysitter Chain
Ayumi Tachibana Chain

Not a Joke Virus Threat

If you are just sending a text e-mail message to someone, there is no way that we've seen that it can be tracked. You could send your message with the "Return Receipt" request but that would only notify you that those persons that you sent the letter to have received it.

 *************************************

IM SORRY GUYS>>I REALLY DONT BELIEVE IT BUT SENDING IT TO YALL JUST IN
CASE!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is not a joke...if you do not forward this e-mail to 20 other
people............. your computer will be a living hell thanks to one of
our very own little ingenus viruses.  I repeat this is not a joke this virus
will come to you only a week after you open this piece of mail in a very
undiscreet e-mail If you open this e-mail after opening others, it just
might come as a letter from your "buddy" Watch out! You have one week..
starting now.  If this virus gets in it won't come back out.  It will slowly 
delete 1 file a day from  system IRQ files, startup files and win 95 
kernels for registery address {1593338-489h985} 

Thank you for your  time.......#:)   hahahahaha    SCREW YOU!!! 

 *************************************

AOL RIOT June 1, 1998

The latest AOL hoax circulating the Internet is "AOL RIOT June 1, 1998". CIAC received the following statement from AOL: "The June 1, 1998 riot e-mail is a hoax. The allegations relating to the spreading of viruses and the tracking of whom the e-mail is forwarded to are false." Tatiana Gau, Vice President of AOL Integrity Assurance.

  AOL RIOT JUNE 1, 1998
  
  WARNING:
 
  You must forward this letter to 10 people or your account will be
  terminated on June 1, 1998. All recipients of this e-mail are being 
  tracked. When you received this, when you forwarded it, who you 
  forwarded it to, is all on record. We are AOL's most elite hacker 
  group, known as LcW. We have hacked AOL's (easily infiltrated) systems
  on numerous occaisions. We have shut down AOL keywords, we can kick any 
  AOL Staff member off for 24 hours, we have gained access to Steve Case's
  account, we have created AOL's most famous hacking programs (Fate X, 
  HaVoK, HeLL RaIsEr, MaGeNtA) and we can certainly get your credit card 
  info. However, if you send this to 10 people, like you are told, you
  will escape unharmed. We won't terminate your account and you will be 
  able to continue using AOL. So if you know whats best for you, you
  will send this to 10 people as soon as possible. If you think we are
  bluffing....just wait till June 1, and see if you can sign or not.
  
  CAUTION: THERE WILL BE A VIRUS UPLOADED ON AOL'S MAIN SERVER ON JUNE 1,
  1998. ANY USERS WHO HAVEN'T FORWARDED THIS MESSAGE WILL AUTOMATICALLY
  HAVE THE VIRUS DOWNLOADED INTO THEIR SYSTEM. WE SUGGEST YOU FORWARD
  THIS MESSAGE OR YOUR COMPUTER WILL BE FRIED.
 
  *****
  
  Because of the outrage of AOL's increasing prices, LcW has decided to
  create a riot on May 1, that will cause havoc on AOL. We will be 
  sending viruses out to thousands of AOL users. We will be terminating 
  accounts. We will be hacking into Guide chat rooms and kicking guides 
  offline. There will be no AOL Staff - just complete pandemonium. If 
  you want to join this riot, we urge you to! You won't have to worry 
  about being TOSed or Reported because there will be no Guides online! 
  So do whatever you want - punt, scroll, tos, just turn AOL into
  a war zone!
  
  *****
  
  LIST OF LcW HACKERS ON AOL
  
  We represent LcW
  The following Hackers will be co-ordinating the Riot and hacking AOL's
  mainframe computer, and uploading viruses into the system.
  
  WaReZxHaCk
  MaGuS
  ReDxKiNG
  HaVoK
  SkiD
  SeMeN
  NoStRa
  PhoneTap
  InetXWeb
  Psy Acid
  PoiSon iV
  PaUsE
  CooLant
  InFeRnO
  XStatic
  Chronic Burn
  Zone Degreez
  WaTcHeR
  
  -----
  AOL RIOT ON JUNE 1, 1998 - You have been warned LcW is taking over 
  America Online. This is not no f***ing joke either. You have been 
  warned.
  -----
  Where f*** is a common vulgar expletive.
 

MSN ß®øöô¥ £.¼ Hacker List Threat

January 2002

The ß®øöô¥ £.¼ Hackers list??? I can't spell it let alone pronounce it. No one has even heard of these guys and they are going to harm you in more than 10 ways if you don't pass this mail on. Sounds like some bozos with delusions of grandeur. They will instantly get a copy of every letter you mail out. Just how are they going to do this? If you don't address mail to them, they don't get a copy. It is just that simple. There is no magic way they get copies of every mail you send.

Your Screen Name has Been Added to the ß®øöô¥ £.¼ Hackers List! Here is how
we work. Because we master MSN, everytime this letter is sent out a copy is
also instantly send to us. We then scan out all the names, and place them on
our hackers list. Once you send out this letter 10 times your name again is
instantly removed from our list. If this letter is not sent out exactly 45
minutes after you have opened it your name will not be able to be removed
from our hacking list. Here is what happened when your name is stuck on the
ß®øöô¥ £.¼ hackers list. 

-Your MSN Instant messenger password is pulled out
of MSN'S files. Stupidly MSN stores your password on a password access
website. We have cracked the password needed and have access to every
account except for MSN guides (cat guides). We gain your credit card number,
social security number, and home address.

-Your credit card information and home address is stored at the MSN site and
with that we can gain your social security number. Everytime you sign on
HOTMAIL, OR MSN INSTANT MESSENGER your account will be messed around with
and much, much more with the power of ß®øöô¥ £.¼ hackers.

-Don't believe this? We don't care at all because not following the
directions given will harm you in over 10 ways. All you have to do is send
this out to 10 people and you will never have to worry about this again. If
you receive this letter again after sending it out you don't need to send it
out again, because your name is not able to be put back on.

-Why are we doing this? It is to get back at MSN, and we are taking action.

Bad Babysitter Chain

April 2003

This is so sad... but it never happened. Someone with a sick imagination made this up to get you to send on the chain.

this is so sad

WAS I A BAD BABY-SITTER?

I was sitting there watching TV
baby-sitting my little brother
he was sleeping
I thought everything would be OK
the phone rang
I picked it up
"hello?" i said
no answer
"hello??" I said again
no answer
I hung the phone up
I sat back down..
it rang again
"hello?" I said
no answer
"okay this isn't funny" I said again
"I'm watching you" the other end said
"who is this?" i asked
the voice was a man..deep and scary..
"you'll see..just wait" he said
i hung the phone up
i ran to the door and locked it
i shut all of the windows
and locked them too
i shut the blinds
my heart was racing
who was that guy?
the phone rang again
i jumped..nearly falling
i picked it up "Hello?" i said
"Oh yea, by the way, you better check your little brother"
"who the hell is this?!"
"I'm watching you" he said
"who is this!!!??? "I yelled
"your brother is crying for you" he said
i slammed the receiver down
i ran upstairs
i opened the door to my brothers room
he lay there asleep
okay, this is a prank i said to myself
i went downstairs
the door was wide open
i nearly fainted
i wanted to call 911
didn't i lock it?
the phone rang again
"hello....?" I said
"was your brother okay?"
"who the f*** is this?!" i yelled"
you tell me sweet cheeks" he said
i picked up a piece of paper
i started to write down what he was saying
to tell the police later
"what are you writing?" he asked
"how did you know I'm writing something?" i asked
"i told you.. I'm watching you" he said
he hung up
i checked all closets
i picked the phone up 
i pressed 9-1
i was pushed
i fell to the ground
i turned arounda man with a ski mask on was standing over me
"why are you calling the police?" he said
"that's not very nice..! 
...........okay.. 
I'll teach you a lesson" he said
he grabbed my hair
he pulled out a gun!
he pointed it to my head
he let go
he said, "come! with me"
i didn't move he pulled me up
he forced me upstairs"
say good-bye to your little brother" he said
i started crying he pushed me into the bathroom
he pushed me into the bathtub
he fired the gun
i was hit in the head....
I'm in the hospital 
where's my brother?
is he okay?
i was hit in the head with the gun
but not the bullet
he made me see black out
I'm okay
a hit to the head
a few bruises 
my brother unfortunately was murdered
he was only 6 years old
I'm sorry for my bad baby-sitting 
Mom and dad
i just want to die
why didn't the man take me instead
he murdered a little boy
not being able to learn how to read better
or get his first kiss
i miss him already
the man stole all of our stuff
and left my family and i very sad
i visit my little brothers grave everyday
i put a rose each day on his tombstone
i love you and I'm sorry.....

SEND THIS TO 10 PEOPLE WITHIN 10 MINUTES OR 
SOMETHING  LIKE THIS WILL HAPPEN TO 
YOU.. IT IS NO JOKE save someone's life.


Ayumi Tachibana Chain

May 2003

This is one of the most violent threat chains I have seen. The writer claims that his girl friend, Ayumi Tachibana, was killed and he is going to kill the people who did it. He is also going to kill you if you don't pass on his chain and, because of some code at the end of the chain, he knows where you are.

All of this is garbage. First of all, if you do a little checking, you will find that Ayumi Tachibana is the heroine of a Japanese computer game called the Detective Club.

The following description is from http://www.planetnintendo.com/supersmashbrothers/ssbmtroph1.html

Ayumi's the heroine of the Detective Club games, which were made for the Famicom Disk System. In the first installment of the series, Ayumi solved the murder of one of her friends, and shortly thereafter, she opened her own investigative agency. Since those early days, she's proven to be a daring and peerless crime solver.

The claim that he can track this e-mail because of the codes at the end is also bogus. The tracking codes might do something if you use his special website to send out the messages but if you use your own mail server the codes will do nothing.

Something his special website could be doing is collecting all the addresses you send mail to and selling them to spammers. Another possibility is that it is not his website and he is trying to do a denial of service attack on it. The website itself is a Lycos Japan website and appears to no longer be operating.

At June 6 ,1999, A woman ,whose name is Ayumi Tachibana , was killed 
after raped. She was only 19years old. She was raped , beaten and 
beaten till her face became swelled up,and her hypogastrium was 
stabbed again and again ,,,until she died.
Each different semen was found from a dead body.
Perhaps Several men raped and killed her.

She was my fiance.
I loved her so much.
I loved her more than any of all over the world.
I hate who killed her.
I will kill the guy who killed her.
I will kill the guy who killed her.
I will kill the guy who killed her.
I will kill the guy who killed her.
I will kill the guy who killed her.....

She was three months pregnant. She had my child.
I loved my child very much , but someone robbed me of my child.
I never forgive them!

I will torture the criminals who killed her and child ,more than in 
the same way and kill! I decided it so.

I made a plan to find criminals. That plan is to find criminals.
I discover the guy who stop this E-mail. 
By using a mail program, I can find out who stopped this E-mail 
program. This program find out the place where the guy who stop 
this E-mail is, from the positional information of a personal 
computer, a cellular phone which an email has.

Please send this E-mail to 10 people within 24 hours if you receive 
this E-mail. You had better send this email to 10 people within 24 
hours for your own security. If you stop this E-mail ,and  when 
I think that you looks strange , I will come and kill you. I will 
kill you even if you are woman. I already killed 14 people till now.
Eight people were women among 14 people.

If you really didn't kill my lover , please send this email to 10 
people within 24 hours.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
You never arrange this program code below.I always know where this 
email is, and so, when this code is changed, I regard you as a criminal 
and come to kill you.

<Current positional information code
=CGI{positional information}="fiusfhsfhgfygyua"
="A HREF=CGI.MXVZCWD.AYUMI.TACHIBANA-PLAN.?/CGI-BIN/TACHIBANA-PLAN"
=:@]/:.:;kko:s;@[;pwp@;@sp44u983909u089y850ulkpgpok@plwokmfkgpls@p@wlkwjg
l@;g@ka@kfvjifugfifjprpg@]l@:lrjp:qrk@ypepiqjropitopkjt454645498497
;foowlg@wgkblk@phkjow@iufh8756898u98ty89ygy7yr90t9ut9yruigfgwiuyi
l[jopk@pgo@pog@phkhopjeaiojgwogpogoeih-0jpigpoejgpoekg@peig@pgi@0eio0
gf6tyh937ht9ht98hgfhioj0ru09t809i2y983t8-0qtuituq0t9-utht98ut98u0fj9ity89
ytytoiu9pty97y87509857989867809i9pjohiughwiojfouho@wmrklwntijwhriuwhrw
ioiowoiut587yroihwfhoiwhfiuhfoiwjfowgfiuy98wpojfoiwut0utpoijfoiwyt98wutowt90wu
9u90uoiugf83t87h8yugf8yror82r9hr828uui79u2vhutouyuiqyr8oofhewyu0938j98
ur099p5u9082u9r90p87ty829oi298uokfjiwgfy908yr8928r92hryw8rwiuyro8hr8r78
y89yt8u98y89tu9tu90utowuiutyti84yh98y
=nfiuhu93ut9wjoijwoiht038utoiwhjt0iwhtu93u3t0ut03u0t934ut903iut93qu903
q//CGI-BIN/TACHIBANA-PLAN/>

----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can send 5 people from here (http://internetchurch.tripod.co.jp/)!

----Good Luck!!!!! (Mary)
Because I did a really fearful experience, I send it . I'm sorry.(John)
It came to take a Silent telephone at the midnight since this email 
came. Sorry,I turn this. I am scared, so,I send it.Sorry.---T.N.
Sorry,I turn this mail to you. / H.M.
I was really attacked by a stranger at a road at night. Sorry,I send 
this. Just after that I received this mail my friend was run over by a 
car. I send this.Sorry./Tom
I turn to you anyway,sorry. Sorry,I turn this.Good Luck./Mitt.


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