More urban legends and hoaxes: AOL Instant Message Users, AOL Riot, and Notice of Investigation
AOL Instant Message Users
Dear America Online and Instant Message users,
Our America Online staff is planning to take away our Instant messages by September 14,1998. If you want to keep your Instant Messages free of charge, send this mail to everyone you know. It will be used as a petition. Each person you send this to counts as one"signature." If this petition gets 1,000 "signatures," our Instant Messages will still be available at no extra charge. If America Online does not recieve 1,000 "signatures," Instant Messages will still be available, but only to those who pay an extra 15.00 dollars a month. If you do not care about not getting any future Instant Messages, please send this for the sake of those who want to keep their Instant Messages free of charge. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Robert McDoggan
America Online Assistance Director
AOL Riot
You must forward this letter to 10 people or your account will be terminated on June 1, 1998. All recipients of this email 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 occasions. 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 what's 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.
Notice of Investigation
Notice from F.O.B. Organization
2101 Wilson Blvd., Suite 550
Arlington, VA 22201-3052
United States of America
Your Website has been placed on the red list of the F.O.B. organization.
You may have your URL withdrawn from the list, that is if you can send proof of legal activity of your website. International law requires you to have a T-56 Registration from the United States Department of Commerce.
An investigation has been set up to identify if you are selling animations illegally.
Your case number is: 2885
Type of case: illegal animation offers on the net
Investigators badge number: 12 "Henry"
We remind you to send us proof of your T-56 Registration form.
If you are found guilty of illegal animation, you may be fined up to $2000 and/or a maximum of 2 years in jail.