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I have been sent a photo via e-mail from a family member. It is a photo of a baby with leukaemia. The message says that if I send the photo onto 3 people then AOL will track it and give 32 cents towards her medical bil. I am not on AOL.
Highly suspicious I ran it through every spyware/virus check I could and it came up clean. My questions are, is it possible for AOL or anyone else to track the e-mail and is it suspect.
Many Thanks
Plain and simply put, it's a HOAX. It's similar to the Jessica Mydek 'Dying Child' Chain Letter. (CLICK ME)
i_XpUser
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AOL and all other ISP's do have the ability to track e-mail.
My advice for you is to delete it then forget it, it sounds like an e-mail version of a chain letter.
I, personally have never heard of an ISP sponsoring medical bills via e-mail.
If you are unsure, call AOL - it's up to you now as to what to do.AMD64Bit 3800+ Socket 939
WinXP Pro.
Nvidia:6800GT
Dane Electronic Pro. Dual 1024MB 400MHz RAM
Tagan 480Watt PSU: 28Amps on +12volt rail.
Asus A8V Deluxe "WiFi" M/Board - Coolmaster A
0
I totally agree with XpUser.
AMD64Bit 3800+ Socket 939
WinXP Pro.
Nvidia:6800GT
Dane Electronic Pro. Dual 1024MB 400MHz RAM
Tagan 480Watt PSU: 28Amps on +12volt rail.
Asus A8V Deluxe "WiFi" M/Board - Coolmaster A
0
AOL and all other ISP's do have the ability to track e-mail.
Not necessarily so. In the case of AOL, they can trace your AOL email to another AOL member as long as it is remains within AOL domain. In other words, you cannot trace mail that has internet recipients.
i_XpUser
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duh typo...
...to another AOL member as long as it is remains within AOL domain.
should read
....to another AOL member as long as it remains within AOL domain.
i_XpUser
0
XpUser
"AOL and all other ISP's do have the ability to track e-mail."
I used this as a general comment to -arwenthecat- without complicating the issue.
However, to be totally correct mails can be tracked to source, if the ISP's involve government departments.
Several court cases have been held in this country after doing just that. Full track via ISPs to source addressess is used in certain criminal cases. It takes time and it is complicated, but it has been used. ;)
I will agree with you that individual ISP's don't do this, but they do, along with other departments, have the capability.
AMD64Bit 3800+ Socket 939
WinXP Pro.
Nvidia:6800GT
Dane Electronic Pro. Dual 1024MB 400MHz RAM
Tagan 480Watt PSU: 28Amps on +12volt rail.
Asus A8V Deluxe "WiFi" M/Board -
AquaGate
0
Yes you're correct in the sense that e-mail can be traced back to the source. Each e-mail header contains this information. I was thinking in terms about the impossibility of checking on the mail status of an Internet recipient. There is no way you can verify that the recipient have received it and read it.
i_XpUser
0
And why would they do it based on the number of people who spread it around, and incur the expense of trying to track it. Plus leave thyself open for an undetermined amount. They would be able to give far more by making a simple public gift to the cause. No it is a Hoax. Designed to cause them bad publicity and a lot of phone calls.
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You need to advise your family member to dump this sort of stuff too.
If it was sent without their knowledge then they ought to virus & malware check their system because it's probably infected.
Derek.W
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