Another email storm on the way??
Here we go again- another hoax email gets broadcast over the USPS email system. And, just like last time, it goes out on a Friday night. This one warns the recipients that “There has been a huge purchase, $32,000 worth, of United Parcel Service (UPS) uniforms on eBay over the last 30 days.” Some kind of mass Halloween stunt? Of course not! It’s (drum roll) Terrorists!!!!!
“This could represent a serious threat as bogus drivers(terrorists) can drop off anything to anyone with deadly consequences! If you have ANY questions when a UPS driver appears at your door they should be able to furnish VALID I.D.”
And just to make sure, the email suggests you check to make sure the suspect delivery person actually arrived in a UPS truck. Good thinking.
Now all of that should be enough to make the average chimpanzee determine that this email is bogus, but any doubts should have been erased by the final advice the sender offers:
“PLEASE send to EVERYONEon your list, even if they are friend or foe. We should all be aware!”
It’s subtle, I know, but still- in all the years that I’ve been sending and receiving email (and I go waaaaay back to MCI Mail and VAX mail), I have never, ever, ever, received a legitimate, reputable email that told me to “send to EVERYONEon your list”. Never.
Oh well. This will be an interesting test, if nothing else. The email was sent by a plant supervisor, whose identity I’ll keep under wraps, because he is obviously somewhat in need of protective custody. For reasons that are unclear, he sent it to several Budget Analyst lists. What was he thinking? “Hey- this is important information! I’ve gotta get the word out! What should I do?! I know!! I’ll send it to the Budget Analysts!! They’ll know what to do!!!!!” Or something like that.
It will be interesting to see how many (if any) of my colleagues fall for this. I’m keeping my fingers crossed…
February 5th, 2008 23:15
[...] some of our co-workers have fallen for, flooding the postal email system with dire warnings about terrorists dressed as UPS men, or amazing cash giveaways from Microsoft that amazingly have been overlooked by the media, but [...]