It's been a year now since I've been using ICQ, and I recieved thousands of different forwards.
The majority of them are all horrible lies or rumours, started for no reason whatsoever.
On this site, I will show you sonme of the more popular rumours and lies, and then explain what's
wrong with them.
Lie 1
URL:C:\windows\TEMP\s3vvoe7n..html
URL's description: Don't download version 3 ICQ, it has a virus in it.
Forward this to all your friends. ICQ98 is ok
Ok, there are two things wrong about this one:
1: The URL points to a file on someone's C: drive, not to a webpage. You can't see this page
unless you have it in your Windows TEMP folder. Chances of that? I'd say about 0.0000001 % at
least.
2: There is no such thing as ICQ version 3. ICQ started at version 1, went to version 1.13, and
then they changed it to ICQ 98
Lie 2
ATTENTION!!! Its confirmed, Mirabilis is going to charge $0.10 for every message sent. If you
want to vote against it, click FORWARD and send this message to EVERYONE on your list. If the
number of vote is equal to the number of users (2,500,000), they''ll not request the payment.
Delete the "who wrote" names on top!
Again, a few things wrong:
1: Mirabilis, the company that owns ICQ, is not going to charge for ICQ, you can read on their page.
2: At ten cents a message, at an average of 25 message a day (yeah, right), you'd have to pay
$2.50 a day. $2.50 times 365? That's over $912 a year. At least!
3: If ICQ were to charge, you'd recieve a message from the system, not as a forward. It'd be a
system message from UIN #1.
4: There are currently over 12 million accounts on ICQ, not 2.5 million. Don't believe me? Check
the page out for yourself.
Lie 3
Starting in the month of July 1998, ICQ will be charging $12.95 monthly for an account on
mirabilis ICQ. You can recieve 5 brownie points if you send this message to 20 people.
Just forward this message and ICQ can detect how many times you have sent it. 10 brownie points
is equal to one months pay for ICQ.
Thanks for your help.
� Mirabilis ICQ 1998
Well, it's September 1998, I didn't forward that message, and I still haven't had to pay anything.
Odd? No, because this is just another ICQ lie.
Brownie points? What happens if you only have 20 people on your list? Or 3? And what happens if
you have 600 people on your list? That would be unfair to those who'd have to pay while you get
30 months free.
Lie 4
Mirabilis has started to clean up among its members. They want to know how many unactive members
they have. If you want to stay on ICQ, please forward this message to all on your contactlist.
If not, you will be removed from their system instantly. We are able to check that you send to
all on your list so please do so, if you want to use this.
Ok, I've gotten this message at least 25 times. Know what? I've never forwarded it, and I still
have my account!
Mirabilis wouldn't send out such a message like this. What would happen if this were true (which it is not)
and you were away for the week, or you just didn't log on that day? You'd lose your account and Mirabilis
would have to deal with a lot of complaints.
Lie 5
We at ICQ need to record how many active acounts are running, and who is really using our service
, or just wasting space. Forward this to everyone on your list within 24 hours. If you don''t,
our service will become unavailable to you. Erase the names at the top. THIS IS NOT A LIE.. USER
####### (IS A MAIN COMPUTER ) Don''t send this back to me. Send it to others on your list!
The main computer's UIN is 1, not 2950767 or 24657412 or whatever. Just 1. I've seen this message
in several different formats, and all of the UINs have not been main computers. They've been kids from
Canada or the States, or they've been invalid UINs, that's all.
Also, ICQ is a program made by Mirabilis, therefore it should read "We at Mirabilis".
Lie 6
If u meet a guy called RoyalKnight or ArcAngel, dont give him your icq number he is a hacker
he sends viruses that formats your hard drive, you'll lose everything. His icq no is 568212,
if he is on your list delete him, he seems nice at first and then he turns nasty, FORWARD THIS
TO EVERYONE.
RoyalNight or ArcAngel? I've seen about 30 different names or UIN that people have said were hackers
or were sending viruses. Imagine my surprise when I recieved a message saying I was sending viruses!
But just in case someone is out there sending viruses, which I'm sure someone is, I'll give you a
little advice. Never run any program that does not come from a reliable source. Also, Nothing can
format your hard drive unless you run it. Lastly, don't accept files from anyone you don't know.
Lie 7
Hi, I need you to forward a message to everyone all over the place as fast as you can. Let them
know about this person. He is sending a virus that will shut your computer down forever...his
UIN# is (some number). please remove any names on this so the complete message gets out
thanx :-) His name is (whoever) if he is on your list please delete him.
Read the above comments. Also, no virus can shut your computer down FOREVER so don't worry.
Lie 7
Reference No. : 953-271-97-3
Please be informed that you have registered and misused
multiple Mirabilis ICQ accounts. If you do not reply to
this message within 7 days your accounts will be terminated
and your Internet Access Provider will be notified.
Please complete the following information and message them
back.
Full Name :
E-mail Address :
ICQ Password :
Now this is a good one. Instead of getting you to forward a message, they are trying to get the
password to your account. First things first, you are allowed multiple accounts on ICQ. Currently,
they have room for at least over 2 billion. That's enough for each person on the web to have 3 accounts.
Second, as you should already know, never send your password to anyone, no matter who they are. Any system which
needs passwords knows everyone's password.
Lie 8
WARNING!!!!!! If you recieve an e-mail titled "JOIN THE
CREW" DO NOT OPEN IT! IT WILL ERASE EVERYTHING on your hard
drive! Send this letter out to as many people you
can.......THIS IS A NEW VIRUS and not many people know
about it! This information was received this morning,
08/09/97, from IBM, please share it with anyone you know
that might access this.
The chances of you getting a computer virus from reading an email are as likely as getting a real
virus by reading an email. And we all no there is no chance of that. You must run a program to
get a virus. So if you ran an attachement to an email, you could get an email.
Lie 9
I was at the ICQ homepage and they said to send a message
containing the code *11A9F332C9DE* in those little starts
(I asume it's a HEX thing?). It was at the
http://www.mirabilis.com/index.html#rumors I really
honestly saw it myself. Send this to everyone or else your
UIN will be deleted. They are nearing there 9999999 user
mark (highest number they can have) and need to free up
inactive acounts.
Once again, ICQ has room for over 2 billion accounts, not 9999999. Also, they don't reuse UINs,
so they wouldn't need to find inactive accounts. And putting in a HEX code in a message wouldn't
tell them anything.
Lie 10
this is no joke forward this they really mean it IF YOU
PASS THIS MESSAGE ON TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST MIRABILIS
WILL GIVE YOU 2345 MIRAPOINTS, THAT WILL GET YOU THE NEW
IMPROVED MIRABILIS ICQ2 SO PASS IT ON!
Delete the names at the top of the list to get another 2543
points!
Mirapoints? HA HA HA!! Mirabilis can't monitor your message forwarding in any way. Also,
there is no such thing as ICQ2, remember, it went ICQ v.1 to ICQ v.113, then right to ICQ98.
And what would you do with the extra 2543 points if you erase the names at the top? ICQ2 again?
Lie 11
Doubt it, but!
http://www.mirabilis.com/index.html#Rumors
sorry for forwarding this to you, I checked it out
myself...
This is not a fake! The ICQ netwrok is overpopulated. You
must forward this to every person on your list. All non
responsive accounts will be terminated. If you do not
forward this, your account will be terminated. Delete the
names at top so that the whole message gets through.
If you doubt this too, check out the URL given! ICQ is not overpopulated! THERE IS ROOM FOR
2 BILLION ACCOUNTS AT LEAST!!!
Lie 12
1:06pm(EST) 1-17-98 ICQ Billing Code 1 Msg 3
Item Description Price
1G ICQ Global Network Usage $12.99/Mo
1W WWP World Wide Pager $2.09/Mo
1V Server Virus Protection $1.09/Mo
=== Amount Due: $16.17 ===
We Accept: Visa, Euro Visa, Mastercard & US Checks.
Please Pay Within 72 Hours, Thank you for using ICQ!
(C) 1998 Mirabilis Inc
This has got to be the most clever fake I have seen. But it's just that. A fake. Nothing more.
Mirabilis would send it's bills by snail mail, though.
Well, that's the end of them. There are hundreds of other fake messages out there, but exposing
them and explaining them all would take too long, so I'll just stick with these 12 most common ones.
I hope you'll now think twice before clicking on the "Forward" button when you get one of these.
