Yesterday I received several e-mails from our alums which contained forwarded e-mails from someone asking us to help a very ill alumnus, Rose Cirolli, Class of 1957.  The person who signed the letter was "Barry Cahn, FRHS 1960."

First of all, let me start by saying both Rose Cirolli and Barry Cahn are deceased.  Their names are listed on their class memorial pages and both of them have tributes on the Memories page.  That is how their names were obtained.  The person is using this e-mail address:

realspecimen44@hotmail.com

The name is ironic, since this "specimen" is really a dirt bag, lower than low.  Whatever you do, do NOT respond to this e-mail.  Skip and I will try to get to the bottom of it.

Any time your e-mail address appears on the internet, you are a target for anyone who wants to e-mail you, and unfortunately, some of these are not nice people.

A little about hoaxes...there are many that make the rounds over and over in different forms, such as these:

Malicious Code (Virus and Trojan) Warnings
Warnings about Trojans, viruses, and other malicious code that has no basis in fact. The Good Times and other similar warnings are here.
 
Urban Myths
Warnings and stories about bad things happening to people and animals that never really happened. These are the poodle in the microwave and needles in movie theater seats variety.
 
Give Aways
Stories about give aways by large companies. If you only send this on, some big company will send you a lot of money, clothes, a free vacation, etc., etc. Expect to wait a long time for any of these to pay off.
 
Inconsequential Warnings
Out of date warnings and warnings about real things that are not really much of a problem.
 
Sympathy Letters and Requests to Help Someone
Requests for help or sympathy for someone who has had a problem or accident.
 
Traditional Chain Letters
Traditional chain letters that threaten bad luck  if you do not send them on or that request you to send money to the top n people on the list before sending it on.
 
Threat Chains
Mail that threatens to hurt you, your computer, or someone else if you do not pass on the message.

Scam Chains
Mail messages that appear to be from a legitimate company but that are scams and cons.
 
Scare Chains
Mail messages that warn you about terrible things that happen to people (especially women).

This information comes from the granddaddy of all Hoax pages, called HOAXBUSTERS.  Click their name to go to their home page.

I would suggest that you read up on the material that is responsible for so much e-mail clogging the Internet.  It would help a LOT if you didn't forward this stuff to your friends and understand that NOTHING will happen to you if you do not!!  Please take Hoaxbusters' advice, which is:

"When in doubt, don't send it out."

There are steps which can be taken to track down and report this type of thing, and it can be found on this Hoaxbusters link:

Information About Hoaxes

If you have questions, please e-mail me at LeBaroness2@cox.net.

Carol Marston, FRHS 1956
Vice President, FRHS Online Alumni Association