NEW VIRUS - Hoax or real?

Subject: KLINGERMAN VIRUS - Hoax or real?
From: Justa Picker
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 06:54 PM

I received this via e-mail today, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure whether it is a hoax or it is real.
In any event, on the remote chance that it could be real, I feel compelled to share it with the community. (If it does turn out to be a hoax, there's no real harm done, and perhaps a Joe Clone can just delete this. Thanks for indulging me, in advance.)

[Copy of the E-mail]

Please read - it definitely is a serious threat to our lives and health.

This is an alert about a virus in the original sense of the word......one that affects your body..... not your hard drive. There have been 23 confirmed cases of people attacked by the Klingerman Virus, a virus that arrives in your real mailbox, not in your e-mail inbox.

Someone has been mailing large blue envelopes, seemingly at random, to people in the U.S. and Canada. On the front of the envelope in bold black letters is printed " A Gift For You From The Klingerman Foundation".

When the envelopes are opened, there is a small sponge sealed in plastic. This sponge carries what has come to be known as the Klingerman Virus and public health officials state this IS a strain of virus they have not previously encountered.

Those who have come in contact with the Klingerman Virus have been hospitalized with severe dysentery. So far seven of the twenty-three victims have died. There is no legitimate Klingerman Foundation mailing unsolicited gifts.

If you receive an oversized blue envelope in the mail marked "A Gift For You From The Klingerman Foundation,". DO NOT OPEN IT !!!!! Place it in a strong plastic bag or container and call the police immediately.

The "gift" is one you definitely do not want to get.
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE THAT YOU CARE ABOUT.

[End of E-mail]

Subject: RE: NEW VIRUS - Hoax or real?
From: Amergin
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 06:56 PM

The end says it all....when an emailtells you to forward to as many people as possible....hoax....

Subject: RE: NEW VIRUS - Hoax or real?
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 07:03 PM

There used to be a write-up on this one at Symantec, but it seems to be gone now. I had the e-mail about 6 months ago and it is a hoax. Symantec linked you to the CDC in Atlanta regarding it.......Complete bullshit.

Spaw

Subject: RE: NEW VIRUS - Hoax or real?
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 07:07 PM

Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta Info

Spaw

Subject: RE: NEW VIRUS - Hoax or real?
From: Don Firth
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 07:08 PM

Here is the straight scoop.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: NEW VIRUS - Hoax or real?
From: Justa Picker
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 07:16 PM

Thanks Catspaw.
(I guess the Joe Clones can lose this thread.)
The e-mail was sent to me by my mother, a senior getting up in age and relatively new to the internet and e-mail and I think she meant well.

Unfortunately I missed out on hearing about this particular hoax 6 months ago, and thought I should err on the side of caution. Now I feel stupid. In any event, I e-mailed my mother the link you provided and told her that her heart was in the right place, but not to fret over this and that stuff like this happens on the net from time to time.

Subject: RE: NEW VIRUS - Hoax or real?
From: Jeri
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 07:27 PM

It's an opportunity to provide information. Don't feel stupid for asking if something's true. (If you send it to 738 of your closest friends without checking, you can feel...well, naive at least.

For bookmarking purposes, the main Urban Legends site (where Don Firth found the information on this hoax) has a lot of infomation. There's an awful lot of interesting reading as well. The Inboxer Rebellion has most e-mail hoaxes, but this one was in "Toxins du Jour."

Subject: RE: NEW VIRUS - Hoax or real?
From: Justa Picker
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 07:31 PM

Thanks Jeri (and Don). Have bookmarked the Urban Legends site.

Subject: RE: NEW VIRUS - Hoax or real?
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 08:06 PM

Yeah.......I got a story for you on this one. Karen's sister mailed me this one (along with 738 of her closest friends Jeri) and I checked and found the thing on several sites including Norton(Symantec) and the CDC.

Karen and Heather have had a poor relationship over the past few years and they were just starting to talk a bit. Heather has a BS in Nursing (paid for partly by Karen) but went back to school again and got into computer stuff......Just as well, she's a lousy nurse. She is married to a guy who also works in the computer field and they are both completely absorbed in it. With all of that, she still sends this one out all over!

So me, being the asshole that I am, RESPOND to all 738 (or whatever) friends and to her explaining impolitely that she and her hubby are both idiots if they do this stuff for a living and yet glom the net with Klingerman Crap. That effectively ended any progress she and Karen were making and Karen is happier for it. Heather sent back replies to everyone but me apologizing for her brother-in-law. When I found out, I sent them apologies for her apology and said I meant what I said. She gave up.

Gawd, I'm an asshole!!! (You have to know the rest of the Heather story to understand)

Spaw

Subject: RE: NEW VIRUS - Hoax or real?
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 08:18 PM

Gee Spaw. If I had a sister I couldn't get along with, I would want her to marry you. TEE HEE
JP - I got bit by the "Love" virus and wish someone had warned me. Now the Amish Virus is another story. I know you play the banjo and all but I would hope you could have figured out that that was a joke.
Mary(ducking)

Subject: RE: NEW VIRUS - Hoax or real?
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Mar 01 - 09:24 PM

I DO have a sister I can't get along with,and I wouldn't saddle spaw with her in a millisecond!! She is married to a lying, cheatin, conniving,felonious bastard who has taken all her "SELF" to do his uglies. I love her, but when she has married a "person"? who deliberatly planted false memories of really nasty stuff during her first marriage (he was boffing her then, too)I have a problem with her too.........

Whoops, sorry, Justa Picker........shoulda said CREEP ALERT!! I saw the Klingerman thing about a year ago. I just go to Urban Legends or some similar site and send the whole page by e mail now. Lots of people have stopped sending me "viruses"...........