Snake inside The Computer - - Reality of Email Message

Beware! Its a Cyber World - - Summary:

Email with attached photographs claims that a technician found a snake inside a computer after the user reported hearing hissing noises and a bad smell.

The photographs are genuine and they do indeed show a dead snake found inside a computer. However, the description has been somewhat embellished. See detailed analysis for more information.

Contects of the said mail are like following:

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Subject: Fwd: computer problems

TECH SUPPORT 'Hello, technical support, how can I help you?'

LADY: 'Last night my computer started making a lot of hissing noise at me so I shut it down. This morning when I turned it on the computer started hissing and cracking, then started smoking and a bad smell, then nothing.'

SUPPORT: 'I will have a technician come over first thing this morning, just leave the computer just like it is, so they can find the problem and fix it, or change it out with another computer. Give me your address; phone number and the technician will be there just as soon as they can'

When the technician got there, the lady showed the technician where the computer was, told him what happened to it and this is what the technician found wrong. Take a look at the pictures...! And you thought you had computer problems!

The technician told her it must have been after the mouse! The woman didn't think it was very funny at all.

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Beware! Its a Cyber World - - Explanation:

This email forward tells the tale of a woman who called technical support after her computer started producing strange hissing noises, a bad smell, and smoke before it stopped working completely. According to the message, when the technician arrived to diagnose the problem, he found a recently deceased snake inside the computer tower. Photographs that accompany the message show the hapless reptile being removed from its unusual hiding place, apparently after being electrocuted.

The photographs are genuine and the snake was indeed found dead inside the computer by a technician. However, the description that comes with the photographs has been somewhat embellished.

Reader Wendy Collett narrated the story about the discovery. She explains: I can give you the original story of the situation.

The technician who’s hands are shown in the photos is Brian Fox (now deceased), from Brisbane, Australia.

He was called to a job site which was a gardening/grass-growing farm in the general area of Boonah, Queensland, Australia, which the office area had some small holes in the walls, and sometimes had vermin in the office area. The office people called him one day because their computer wasn’t working when it was turned on (they had heard a hissing noise when they turned it on), and he came to site. He first put his hand around the back of the computer to ‘feel’ whether the cords were all in place, then he spun the computer around to find the snake!

The snake is a baby red-belly black snake, which is highly deadly (when alive). It apparently crawled into the computer seeking the warmth of the computer fan after it was turned off for the day, and got electrocuted on the power source on the way out.

This happened in approximately 2002/2003.

Brian gave me a copy of the photos, and I put them on the website I had at the time, and shared the information with a newsgroup forum I used to help moderate for the GoldMine program, called www.contactreview.com (original website since disappeared) - within a couple of days, it was the most popular items on my website, and I had many international visitors having a look. I took down my old website in about 2006, so these photos have certainly been circulating a long time!

The tech support story has been made up, and there was never anything about it being a mouse. Brian did tell me that he never again put his hand behind a computer before first checking visually that there was no more snakes, and he also told me that the grass-growing farm had the holes in the office wall fixed immediately afterwards.

Brian was a bit of a joker and always enjoyed a laugh, but I can guarantee, this was deadly serious, and he took the photos because he thought nobody would believe him if he didn’t!

Sadly, Brian passed away about 2 years ago, so he is unable to speak for himself on this situation, but I hope you enjoy the REAL story of the photos, and learn from the lesson – ALWAYS visually check behind your computer before you reach to ‘feel’ the cords!

Cheers,
Wendy Collett

Mars and Earth - - At The Closest Point in the History

Beware! Its a Cyber World - - Summary:

Email claims that Earth and Mars will have the closest approach in recorded history in August and will be a spectacular sight for stargazers.

In fact, the event described did occur back in 2003, but this message is now hopelessly outdated. No such close approach will occur in July or August 2010.

The subjected mail looks like as under:

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Subject: Mars - August 27th must see

Get those telescopes out!

Something to look forward to this summer.

Mars

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular!

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide at a modest 75-power magnification.

Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share this with your children and grandchildren.

NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN

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Beware! Its a Cyber World - - Explanation:

An email that has circulated during July and August for several years is again hitting inboxes in 2010. The message informs recipients that the planet Mars will be passing very close to Earth in August. While this information was valid back in 2003, it is totally inaccurate for 2010. One of the 2010 incarnations of the hoax consists of a PowerPoint slide presentation that provides basically the same information as contained in the above email along with several more photographs of Mars

The year is not specifically mentioned in the message and a great many recipients therefore assume that the message refers to August, 2010. Virtually identical (and equally misleading) messages were circulating back in July and August 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. The events outlined in the message were more or less true back in 2003 although they were a little hyped even then. According to NASA, on August 27, 2003, Earth and Mars were the closest they have been for around 60,000 years. Mars was indeed a spectacular site in the night sky during several months of 2003.

However, this fact is not quite as earth shattering as you might think. A 2003 NASA article on the subject explains that:

Much has been made of the fact that the August 27th encounter with Mars is the closest in some 60,000 years. Neanderthals were the last to observe Mars so favorably placed. This is true. It's also a bit of hype. Mars and Earth have been almost this close many times in recent history.

And, during 2010, the view of Mars will be far less than "spectacular". In an article about the hoax, Science website EarthSky notes:

In both July and August of 2010, Mars is low in the west after sunset. Not only is it not as large as a full moon, it’s barely noticeable as a tiny dot of light in the sunset glare. In July 2010, Mars is one of several planets – including Saturn, Venus and Mercury – in that part of the sky.

Around August 27 – the day of the hoax – Mars will be near the planet Venus on our sky’s dome. Venus will guide your eye to Mars.

Why is Mars so faint in the summer of 2010? If you did not know where to look for it, you’d never notice it. It’s faint because it’s far away from us now.

In fact, the closest approach of Mars to the Earth for 2010 has already occurred back in January 2010. Even then, at 99 million kilometers Mars was still a lot further away than it was in 2003 when it was only 56 million kilometers from Earth. In reference to this January 2010 encounter, astronomy website SEDS noted:

Mars will come into Opposition on January 29, 2010 in the constellation Cancer. Two days before, on January 27, 2010, the planet will have come to its closest approach to Earth during this apparation: 99.33 million km (0.66399 AU). This is not very close, as Mars will be quite close to its aphelion at the time of this opposition; the aphelion is passed on March 31, 2010. This opposition will occur during Northern Spring and Southern Autumn on Mars, so primarily observable will be the Northern hemisphere of Mars.

Thus, like the earlier incarnations of this hoax, the claims in the 2010 version are nonsense.

This message seems set to keep resurfacing every year and duping a whole new set of recipients into gazing rather fruitlessly at the night sky. But don't despair! Close encounters with Mars are not such uncommon events. The claim that "NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN!" is misleading. It is true that the next time Mars will be as close to Earth as it was in 2003 will be on August 28, 2287. In the mean time however, there will be plenty of other close approaches, so our children and our children's children are not likely to miss out altogether.

Charity Hoax Reality - - Baby With An Extraordinarily Large Head

Beware! It's a Cyber World - - Summary:

Email that includes attached images of a baby with a severely enlarged head claims that, each time the email is forwarded, money will be donated to help pay for an operation to help the child.

The claims in the message are false. No money will be donated to help this child when the email is forwarded. Any message that claims that donations will be made in exchange for forwarding is certain to be a hoax. It is unclear if the images have been manipulated or if the baby in the photographs has a severe case of a medical condition such as hydrocephalus. Either way, forwarding the message will not help this baby.

Actual contents of the mail are:

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Subject: 1 forward he gets 3.00 Thai baht

Whilst you are aware of your smiles, when you smile, someone is not aware if it is a smile or if they will ever smile. This Family needs our help………………if you forward this mail to one person, they will get $3.00 Thai Bhat that will go towards the operation……… I hope that you will pass along just as I did…

Thank you…..





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Beware! It's a Cyber World - - Detailed Analysis:

This widely circulated email claims that you can help the family of a baby with a severe medical condition pay for a vital operation simply by forwarding the email to others. The message contains a series of attached images depicting an infant with an extremely enlarged head. According to the message, the family will receive three Thai Bhat (around 9 cents) each time the message is sent on to another person.

However, the claims in the message are untrue. Money will certainly not be donated to this child's family in exchange for forwarding the email. In fact, the message is just one more in a long series of similar charity hoaxes that claim that money will be donated when a particular message is forwarded.

The message makes no mention of how the email is to be tracked as it is forwarded nor does it state what organization or person will be giving the promised donations. In reality, there is simply no reliable or ethical method of tracking the journey of a specific email as it is forwarded again and again from thousands of email accounts all around the world. Therefore, it would be impossible to calculate in any reasonable or meaningful way just how many Thai Bhat the elusive benefactor would be obliged to give to the family. Moreover, it is vastly improbable that any company or charitable organization would ever agree to participate in such a ridiculous and ill-conceived fund raising scheme. Forwarding this absurd hoax email will do nothing whatsoever to help the baby shown in the images.

The message does not contain any information that would help identify the child in the images or ascertain the baby's current condition. Many commentators have suggested that the images have been altered using image manipulation software such as Photoshop. This suggestion may well be correct. However, it has also been suggested that the child may have a severe case of the medical condition hydrocephalus. This condition can result in unusually large head sizes in infants. A National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke fact sheet about hydrocephalus notes:

Symptoms of hydrocephalus vary with age, disease progression, and individual differences in tolerance to the condition. For example, an infant's ability to compensate for increased CSF pressure and enlargement of the ventricles differs from an adult's. The infant skull can expand to accommodate the buildup of CSF because the sutures (the fibrous joints that connect the bones of the skull) have not yet closed.

In infancy, the most obvious indication of hydrocephalus is often a rapid increase in head circumference or an unusually large head size. Other symptoms may include vomiting, sleepiness, irritability, downward deviation of the eyes (also called "sunsetting"), and seizures.

Thus, a severe case of hydrocephalus cannot be conclusively ruled out, at least until further information about the origin of the images becomes available.

And, even if the images do depict a baby with a real medical condition, it is important to understand that sending on this email will do nothing whatsoever to help. In fact, any message that claims that money will be donated in exchange for forwarding an email is sure to be a hoax and should not be forwarded.

Michael Verster: 9-years-old Missing Child From Pinetown, South Africa - - Reality of The Mail Spreading Recently

Beware! It's a Cyber World - - Summary:

Circulating message claims that 9-year-old Michael Verster is missing from his home in Pinetown, South Africa.

As a result of careful and detailed investigation; foound that the information in the message is true. Nine year old Michael Verster went missing in Pinetown, South Africa on 28th April 2010. Michael was last seen getting into a car outside his school soon after his mother dropped him off. If you have any information about this case, please contact South African Police. Contact details are provided on the flyer included below.

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Subject: FW: Missing Boy Michael Verster 9 yrs KZN this is not a hoax and he has not been found yet!

Hi there everyone,

Before I sent this out today I actually phoned the number on the flyer for Pine Town Police and I was told that yes Michael Verster is definitely still missing and I was asked if I could please send this out.

SO PLEASE FORWARD!


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Beware! It's a Cyber World - - Explanation:

A missing child alert for 9 year old Michael Verster is currently circulating via email and social networking websites. The information in the alert is true. The alert generally takes the form of an attached flyer that contains information about the case along with photographs of Michael and police contact details. The flyer notes that Michael Verster, of Pinetown South Africa was last seen getting into a car outside his school soon after his mother dropped him off for the day.

An 18th May 2010 Newswatch item on Durban's EastCoastRadio website notes:

It has been an agonizing 21-days for a Durban woman.

Her son, 9-year-old Michael Verster, has been missing since someone picked him up outside school at Pinetown 15-minutes after she had dropped him off.

Monique Verster says fellow pupils saw the little red-haired boy jumping into a car with an unknown man.

The report also notes that police have no solid leads in the case.

Another May 18 news report about the case published on the TimesLive website reveals that the missing boy's parents are involved in a custody dispute. The article notes:

Michael's mother, Monique, said she dropped her redheaded son at Pinetown Primary School early on April 28.

"Someone from the school called to tell me Michael was not in class and that his friends saw him willingly jump into a car with a white man shortly after I had dropped him," she said.

She is convinced that her child's abductor is not a stranger: "Michael would never go near a stranger," she said.

The police widened their search to Vereeniging, Meyerton, Pretoria and Vanderbijlpark when they discovered that the boy's father, whom Monique and the police refused to name, lives in Gauteng.

Warrant Officer Mazwi Mbatha said the boy's father had told police he did not know where his son was.

If you have any information about Michael Verster's disappearance or whereabouts, please contact the South African Police Service (SAPS) via the contact details on the above flyer.

Facebook Group Titled "becoming a father or mother was the greatest gift of my life" - - Email Hoax Claiming The Group Operated by Pedophiles

Beware! Its a Cyber World - - Summary:

Message circulating on Facebook warns users not to join the group titled "becoming a father or mother was the greatest gift of my life" because it is operated by a group of pedophiles intent on accessing your Facebook photographs.


In fact, this warning is totally meaningless. There is no Facebook group like the one described in the message. Several groups using the same or very similar names have been created, but only in response to this warning message. These are not pedophile groups but simply poor taste prank groups designed to capitalize on the reaction caused by the original warning message. Posting this warning to other Facebook users is utterly pointless.

The message is very short and concise and looks like:

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Fox 4 news reported... ATTENTION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
do not join the group that runs currently on facebook with the title "becoming a father or mother was the greatest gift of my life" This is a group created by pedophiles whose aim is to access your photos!!!!!!!...!!!!! Please rotate ...this post to all Your Friends on Facebook xx

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Beware! Its a Cyber World - - Explanation:

This rather breathless message has been rocketing around social networking website, Facebook for several weeks. It warns Facebook users not to join a group named "becoming a father or mother was the greatest gift of my life" because it is operated by pedophiles. Supposedly these dastardly individuals want users to join their group so that they can then gain access to photographs that the users have on their Facebook profiles, some of which may depict children.

However, this warning is utterly pointless. It is nothing more than a hoax and has no basis in fact. I began researching this "warning" very soon after it first started to circulate. At that point, there was no such group on Facebook. Predictably, however, pranksters apparently could not resist creating such groups entirely in response to the bogus warning message. In short order, several Facebook groups were created that used names derived from the name specified in the original warning message. Although in poor taste, these groups are not pedophile groups, but simply pointless pranks designed, apparently, to provoke a reaction from Facebook users. Unfortunately, the creation of such prank groups has given totally undeserved credibility to the original warning message and ensured that it continues to spread.

To add to the confusion, other groups have been created which have the sole purpose of protesting against the pedophile group discussed in the original warning. Since this pedophile group never existed in the first place, these protest groups are beyond pointless. These groups - both copy-cat and protest - tend to spring up and disappear quite rapidly. Joining such groups just encourages such pranksters and helps to continue the spread of such nonsense.

Some versions of the hoax message claim that the warning was reported by Fox News. However, this claim is false. The warning has not been reported by Fox News or any other credible news outlet.

In any case, if you take reasonable precautions to keep your Facebook profile information private, simply joining a Facebook group is not going to give the group creator access to your photographs. Moreover, pedophiles would tend to be much more canny and clandestine with regard to their activities. They are hardly likely to create a publicly accessible Facebook group that clearly identifies them as criminal pedophiles. As every parent and guardian should be aware of, pedophiles certainly do use Facebook to attempt to communicate with and "groom" potentially vulnerable youngsters. If we are going to allow children to use Facebook at all, then, as parents and guardians, we should carefully monitor what contacts they are making and what information and images they are sharing. However, spreading around utterly pointless warning messages like the one discussed here does nothing whatsoever to address the real and important issue of children's safety online.

Sadly, Facebook is becoming more and more a vector for the spread of half-truths, misinformation and outright nonsense. Before posting on a warning message that you have received via Facebook, please take a few moments to check its veracity via a credible source.

ScamChecker: Free Online Service - - Designed to Help You Make a Decision About Whether It’s Safe to Buy From An Online Store

ScamChecker is a free online service which is designed to help you make a decision about whether it’s safe to buy from an online store you’re worried about. Just fill in the checkmark boxes and see the odds of it being a fraudulent shop.

From my experience, the first sign to look out for is whether they accept Paypal or not. If they do, they’re most probably OK. If they don’t, watch out (especially if they specify Western Union payment or refuse credit cards).

Also check out this page of over 5700 scam domains in China (do a CTRL-F to search for a name you’re worried about). It’s not infallible, scammers shut down old and register new domains regularly, but it’s a start.

All you need to do is look through the suspect website for particular features. If you find them, tick the corresponding box in the checklist. To help you through the process, there is also a guide written to further explain, it’s up to you if you want to use it. If the Checklist says the website is a scam, then yes we think the website is a scam, you don’t need to email me to be sure.

FIFA 2010 WORLD CUP LOTTERY: Winning Notification of $2.8 million - - Another Lottery Scam to Reap The Benefits From FIFA World Cup 2010

Beware! Its a Cyber World - - Summary:

Message purporting to be a "winning notification" from international football association FIFA, claims that the recipient has won two million eight hundred thousand dollars in the FIFA 2010 World Cup Lottery.

The cyber culprits always try to reap the benefits from the big events like 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. In the last month; an article was posted here at 'Beware! Its a Cyber World'; alerting internet users that cyber crimes are on the rise as the FIFA World Cup is approaching.

In fact, this email message is also a part of that cyber crime wave which is not from FIFA and the supposed lottery does not exist. The message is a scam designed to trick recipients into sending money and personal information to Internet Criminals.

Let's have a look to the mail contents and attachment (a certificate in pdf format) here below then we'll proceed towards the detailed analysis and explanation:

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FIFA 2010 WORLD CUP LOTTERY

CONGRATULATIONS! ! ! !

Dear Winner,

We are pleased to announce to you as one of the 3 lucky winners in the FIFA 2010 AWARD draw held on March 31ST 2010. All 3 winning addresses were randomly selected from a batch of 5,000,000 international emails. Your email address emerged alongside 2 others as a 3rd category winner in this month's draw.

Consequently, you have therefore been approved for a total pay out of $2, 800,000, 00 USD (Two Million Eight Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) only.

The following particulars are attached to your lotto payment order: (i) BATCH NUMBER: FIFA-SA/40/UK-0079
(ii) REFERENCE NUMBER: UK231/SA0079
(iii) PIN: 2131

Here are the details required from you:
YOUR FULL NAME:……………………….
COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE:………………..
OCCUPATION:……………………………..
AGE:…………………………………………
MOBILE NUMBER:………………………...
EMAIL: ………………………………………

Please contact the under listed claims officer as soon as possible with your details for the immediate release of your winnings:
INTERNATIONAL CLAIMS DEPARTMENT MANAGER
Contact Person: Name: Chris D. Benjamin
Tel: +44 703 180 0860
Fax: + 44 884 774 7508
Email: intlclaims2010@live.co.uk

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
At your disposal, I remain.
Yours in service,

Once again on behalf of all our FIFA 2010 TEAM,
CONGRATULATIONS!!!

N.B:
1. All claims are nullified after 10 working days from today.
2. Your Ref number must be in all your mails with the claims officer.
3. Do inform the claims officer of any change of names or addresses.
4. All winners under the 5. Please contact your claims agent by fax or email (Mrs. Deborah Gray).FIFA 2010 ENGLAND.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

The certificate attached looks like ...


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Beware! Its a Cyber World - - Explanation:

This email is supposedly an official prize notification from world football governing body, FIFA. The email claims that the "lucky" recipient has won a substantial cash prize in the FIFA World Cup Lottery. The recipient is instructed to contact the "claims agent" listed in the message and provide personal details in order to arrange the "immediate release" of the winnings.

However, the message is not from FIFA and neither the prize nor the FIFA 2010 World Cup Lottery itself actually exist. In fact, the message represents just one more variant of an advance fee lottery scam that has been successfully used by criminals for many years. Those who contact the "claims agent" as instructed will soon be asked to pay various fees that are supposedly required to allow the release of the "winnings". The criminals responsible for the scam will claim that these payments are necessary to cover taxes, insurance costs, delivery expenses and a host of other totally fictitious fees. The scammers will insist that for legal or insurance reasons, the fees cannot be deducted from the actual winnings and must be paid in advance. If the fees are not paid, they will claim, the "winner" will forfeit his or her right to the prize money. But, of course, there is no prize and any money sent by the victims will be pocketed by these canny scammers. Once a victim falls for the scam and sends money, requests for more and more bogus fees are likely to continue until the victim belatedly realizes that he or she is being conned. During the course of the scam, the criminals may also fool their victim into supplying a large amount of personal information that may subsequently be used to steal his or her identity.

In order to make their scam message seem a little more credible, the scammers responsible for this message have rendered it in the form of an official-looking PDF document complete with seemingly genuine FIFA logos, trademarks and formatting. The logos and graphics used in the scam message are no doubt stolen or copied from official FIFA websites and publications.

Scammers are always quick to exploit events of international significance in order to further their own nefarious ends. And the 2010 FIFA World Cup - to be held in South Africa in June and July - is certainly no exception. The above example is only one of a number of advance fee style scams that have been submitted to me over the last few months that base their bogus cover stories around the impending World Cup. Such scam attempts are likely to continue.

Internet users should be very cautious of any unsolicited emails that claim that they have won a large prize in a promotion that they have never even entered. No legitimate organization is ever likely to run a promotion or prize draw in such a manner. Scammers often claim that the recipient's email address or name has been collected online and randomly selected as the "winner". Genuine lotteries do not operate in such a manner. If you receive such an email, do not reply to the "agent" as instructed. Do not send money or personal information.