RE: **E-Mail Warning** Its another HOAX

On Monday, August 18, 1997 9:59 AM, Sprayform 
[SMTP:sprayform.dev@netwales.co.uk] wrote:
> On the company net warnings have been issued regarding a nasty e-mail 
virus.
>
>
> _DO NOT OPEN_ any e-mail you recieve that has the subject of
"greetings
> from
> your pen pal" or similar.
>
> The virus will send its-self to all members of your e-mail address
book and
> then WIPE your HD...
>
> Since a news group is more prone to this attack, and we are very
> international in our subbers, I,m posting this 'off topic'. Especially
as
> I've also recieved microsofts wake up call!!
>
> Jon (absolutely barking)I'm sure you know more about it than me and
have
> matters in hand.
>
> Take care and type with a glove on ! (safe thrusting..  ;-)
>
>

Its a HOAX

Another Good Times hoax
Please do your research before posting this
stuff (I know people panic but its always worth
checking out this stuff)

see below - I found this after 5 minutes on AltaVista

http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html#penpal

PENPAL GREETINGS! Warning Hoax

The PENPAL GREETINGS! Hoax shown below appears to be an attempt to kill
an 
e-mail chain letter by claiming that it is a self starting Trojan that 
destroys your hard drive and then sends copies of itself to everyone
whose 
address in in your mailbox. Reading an e-mail message does not run it
nor 
does it run any attachments, so this Trojan must be self starting. Aside
from 
the fact that a program cannot start itself, the Trojan would also have
to 
know about every different kind of e-mail program to be able to forward 
copies of itself to other people. This warning is totally a hoax.

     FYI!

     Subject:  Virus Alert
     Importance:  High
     If anyone receives mail entitled: PENPAL GREETINGS! please delete
it 
WITHOUT
     reading it.  Below is a little explanation of the message, and what
it 
would
     do to your PC if you were to read the message.  If you have any 
questions or
     concerns please contact  SAF-IA Info Office on 697-5059.

     This is a warning for all internet users - there is a dangerous
virus
     propogating across the internet through an e-mail message entitled 
"PENPAL
     GREETINGS!".
     DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY MESSAGE ENTITLED "PENPAL GREETINGS!"
     This message appears to be a friendly letter asking you if you are
     interestedin a penpal, but by the time you read this letter, it is
too 
late.
     The "trojan horse" virus will have already infected the boot sector
of 
your hard
     drive, destroying all of the data present.  It is a
self-replicating 
virus,
     and once the message is read, it will AUTOMATICALLY forward itself
to 
anyone
     who's e-mail address is present in YOUR mailbox!
     This virus will DESTROY your hard drive, and holds the potential to

DESTROY
     the hard drive of anyone whose mail is in your inbox, and who's
mail is 
in
     their inbox, and so on.  If this virus remains unchecked, it has
the 
potential
     to do a great deal of DAMAGE to computer networks worldwide!!!!
     Please, delete the message entitled "PENPAL GREETINGS!" as soon as
you 
see it!
     And pass this message along to all of your friends and relatives,
and 
the
     other readers of the newsgroups and mailing lists which you are on,
so 
that
     they are not hurt by this dangerous virus!!!!