Once again, please, before you send these virus warning messages check them
out first. We know you mean well. . .The following is copied directly from
the "Computer Virus Myths web" site- (http://www.kumite.com/myths/)
The "Guts to say 'Jesus'" hoax first appeared late in 1998. It died out for
a while and has now made a huge resurgence. It is currently one of our
most common virus hoaxes.
There is very new in this hoax; it is mostly rehash of prior hoaxes (see
Old Hoaxes Combined.) and this one falls into that category. I initially
hesitated to post a specific warning about this hoax because I believed
that readers of our hoax page would immediately recognize this is a hoax
because it contains so much text stolen from prior hoaxes but sadly this
isn't the case.
Note that only the beginning of this hoax contains some new text. But even
this "new text" fits into the old hoax pattern started by The "Good
Times" Email virus hoax. Where you are warned to avoid a virus by shunning
email with some particular title. It also contains the sure-fire hoax
indicator of asking you to forward this message to others. (If you see a
virus warning like this, you should disregard it.)
Here is the beginning of this hoax:
VIRUS WARNING !!!!!!!
If you receive an email titled "It Takes Guts to Say 'Jesus,'" DO
NOT open it. It will erase everything on your hard drive.
Forward this letter out to as many people as you can. This is a
new, very malicious virus and not many people know about it.
This information was announced yesterday morning from IBM; please
share it with everyone that might access the Internet. Once
again, pass this along to EVERYONE in your address book so that
this may be stopped.
>From this point on, the hoax contains text from the old "Undelivered Mail"
hoax:
Also, do not open or even look at any mail
that says "RETURNED OR UNABLE TO DELIVER." This virus will
attach itself to your computer components and render them
useless. Immediately delete any mail items that say this.
Now the hoax tries to claim some legitimacy by referring to AOL:
AOL has said that this is a very dangerous virus and that there is NO
remedy for it at this time. Please
practice cautionary measures and forward this to all your online friends
ASAP.
There is no such thing as a virus with no remedy. And yet again we see the
classic hoax sign; a request to "forward this to all your online friends".
Anytime you see this in an email, you can assume that the message is a hoax!
Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
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