"If you forward me, your reward will be a free laptop, a message says. Don't believe it, VirusBuster warns. Hunting down malware and other threats, VirusBuster, the Hungary-based specialist of IT security continuously monitors the internet. In the past days, they have detected a new wave of a fraudulent chain message, which supposedly offers free laptops to those who forward it."Of course the story, which has now surfaced in Hungary for the second time in a year, is a hoax", said Dániel Székely, the head of VirusBuster's product management group. "You won't win anything if you forward the message. but you'll certainly put unnecessary extra load on mail servers. Many of us tend to forward such messages, saying it won't hurt and it may even be true. However, the time wasted on forwarding, reading and deleting these e-mails causes significant financial losses when measured on a national or even corporate level."
A copy of the message obtained by VirusBuster had "Promotion" on its subject line, and ran as follows:
"All you need to do is send an e-mail about this promotion to 8 people and you will receive an Ericsson T18 Laptop. If you send an e-mail to 20 or more people, you will receive an Ericsson R320 Laptop. Make sure you send a copy to: Anna.swelung@ericsson.com."
Ericsson reacted on its FAQ web page (http://www.ericsson.com/faq): "The chain letter is a fraud and has been circulating since April 2000. ... Anna Swelung does not exist at Ericsson. The legal and IT departments at Ericsson will trace the person who initiated the illegal chain letter. Ericsson is sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused and kindly ask people not to forward the chain mail further."
"By the way, Ericsson has never built laptops called T18 or R320. Both were cell phone models, many years ago", Székely added.
About VirusBuster Ltd.
With its over 15 years of experience, VirusBuster Ltd. (www.virusbuster.hu) has international reputation in the field of IT security. Based in Budapest, Hungary, the company delivers full-fledged anti-virus and other security solutions on all major platforms to its customers on five continents. Virusbuster’s software has been recognized with numerous prizes and certificates from many independent testing organizations. Its flagship product, VirusBuster Professional, has won several “Virus Bulletin 100%” awards, “Checkmark Anti-Virus Level One” and “CheckVir” certifications. It received the “Desktop/Server Anti-Virus Detection” certification, and, in 2007 and 2008, the “Desktop/Server Anti-Virus Cleaning” certification from ICSA Labs.
The company also attained OESISOK certification in 2008, which proves that its applications are fully interoperable with the network devices of market-leading technology vendors, such as Cisco, Juniper, NORTEL, 3Com and F5, and they are compatible with network protection (endpoint health validator) systems, including NAP, NAC and TNC.
VirusBuster’s experts have gained worldwide recognition, and are regular presenters at international conferences. CEO Julianna Bozsó received the “The IT Director of 2008 award” from the Hungarian Association of IT Companies (IVSZ).
The company was awarded the “Innovative business solution” prize in 2003, and was named as an “IT Hopeful” in 2004. It won two “Distinguished Software Exporter” titles from IVSZ. VirusBuster has been certified as meeting the ISO 9001:2001 quality assurance standard since 2005. In 2009, the company's web store earned a "Fair Business" certificate, and VirusBuster was awarded Hungary's Business Ethics Prize."
Source: Virus Buster
24.06.2010