Forward Ever Forward

Editor’s Note: This virus is snopes verified. However, snopes offers further commentary concerning this particular virus: “Additional information about the ‘Here you have’ virus posted on the McAfee Labs Blog indicates that their anti-virus software has since been updated to recognize and neutralize VBMania and that ‘this URL is no longer active and the email propagation vector is believed to be crippled at this time,’ so the threat posed by the ‘Here you have’ or ‘Just For You’ virus is now rather low.” So, even though the threat of this virus is low, the below recommendations can be applied to other viruses.

Infectious email messages have been circulating and spreading a virus called, “VBMania.” If you receive any emails with “Here you have” or “Just for you” in the subject line, please delete these emails immediately. Don’t open them or click on any links or attachments. You should watch out for these malicious emails both on your work computers and on your home computer.

A link to a malicious Web site associated with the virus appears to be inactive, but infected hosts may continue to spread the virus via other means. The files attached to the e-mails are dangerous because they appear to be a PDF or Windows Media (WMV) files but are actually disguised files known as Trojans. After clicking them, the user is prompted to download or execute the virus. When it is run, the virus installs itself on your computer. Once your computer is infected, the virus attempts to send out the same email message to the addresses in your address book. It can also spread through accessible remote machines, mapped drives, and removable media such as thumb drives.

While this specific threat is current and has been reported on Government computer systems, you should always be on the alert for malicious emails. When you receive emails, check to make sure you know the sender before you open it. If you don’t recognize the person in the “from” line of an email, or it seems suspicious for other reasons, delete it. Also, please make sure your work and home computers are protected and have current anti-virus and other security software.

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Hey everyone,

View your Driver’s License—it is online! Now you can see anyone’s Driver’s License on the Internet, including your own. I just searched for mine and there it was—picture and all. I already removed mine. I suggest you all do the same.

Go to the web site, and check it out. Just enter your name, city and state to see if yours is on file. After your license comes on the screen, click the box marked “Please Remove.” This will remove it from public viewing, but not from law enforcement. Notify your friends so they can protect themselves too. They will thank you for it.

http://licence.gov

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FEF:  We got the email “Goodbye Target” emailed to us, just like the rest of America. But we wanted to know if there was any truth to the charges against them before adding it to this site.

THERE ISN’T. IT IS FALSE!

We just googled Target Ownership and it sent us to TruthorFiction.com on the subject. So hey guys, before we continue ruin a company, or a person, or anything else,  let’s check out the facts and stop sending out libelous emails.

We’ve listed here the disclaimer on the email from TruthorFiction.com, as well as the libelous email it disclaimed below.

Target Stores Won’t Fund Veterans Projects-Fiction!

Target Stores are Owned by the French-Fiction!

Target Stores Won’t Allow Collections for the Marine’s Toys For Tots Campaigns-Fiction!

Target Stores Won’t Allow Reservists Called for Active Duty to Maintain Insurance-Fiction!

Summary of the eRumor
There are different messages urging you to avoid buying anything at Target stores because the company turned down a request for funds for a Vietnam veterans memorial wall, is owned by the French, won’t allow collections for Toys For Tots at Christmas, and won’t give reservists call for active military duty continued health insurance coverage.

The Truth
This is quite an assault on Target stores and is becoming an example of how a rumor can mushroom and pick up momentum along the way.

It started with a man named Dick Forrey.
He is listed as being with Howard County Vietnam Veterans in the state of Indiana.
He says that he did have the experiences both with the local Target store and the Target corporate offices as is described in one of the stories and did originate an email expressing his displeasure.
It is not true, however, that Target categorically refuses to fund Veteran’s projects and even Forrey is upset with how large this eRumor has spread.

The Target company is sending a written response to people who inquire about the Forrey story that says that Target gives $2 million per week in the communities where stores are located.  The Target letter says a veteran (referring to Forrey) approached a local store in March, 2002 for a $100 donation to a “moving wall” project.  The response says that any donations by local stores are not in cash but in gift certificates or volunteer time.  Cash is given by the corporate office and in response to official requests for grants.  The letter says that the veteran who asked for the donation should have been given grant information from the store, but was not.  The Target response also says that the company makes donations in three general areas:  education, arts and family violence prevention.  The company is happy to donate to any veterans causes that would fit within those guidelines.  So while it’s true that donations would not be given to a veterans project per se, they would be given if the veterans project is within the guidelines.

Regarding Target’s ownership, the company is on record as a U.S. firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and always has been.
There is no foreign ownership in its past or present that we’ve been able to find or been presented with evidence about.

Regarding benefits for reservists on active duty, this has been a big issue since so many reservists were called in for service in the Middle East and the National Committee for Employer Support of the National Guard and Reserve has been a watchdog of companies and how they treat reservists.
They list target in the “Outstanding Employer” category which means it has “gone above and beyond the requirements of the law in support of their National Guard and Reserve employees.”

So how did such a completely false email come into being?
It’s easy to suspect a conspiracy or organized effort against Target but from our viewpoint this appears to have gotten started with the Dick Forrey letter and as others read it and got angry over it, they added other false charges in order to stack the deck.

Here’s The False, Slanderous Email…FEF added the False Accussations!!! remarks.

FEF: We suggest that if you receive this email, you attach the TruthorFiction.com clarification to it and send it back to everybody on the list. That’s what we’re doing…and we never forward emails, but this needs to stop!

Wasn’t it last Christmas that Target refused to let the Salvation Army
ring their bells in front of their stores?

Dick  Forrey of the Vietnam  Veterans Association wrote.

‘Recently we asked the local TARGET store to be a proud
sponsor of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during our spring
recognition event.

We received the following reply
from the local TARGET management:

‘Veterans do not meet our area of giving. FALSE ACCUSATIONS!!!

We only donate to the arts, social action groups, gay & lesbian causes, and  education.’

So I’m thinking, if the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and veterans in
general, do not meet their donation criteria, then something is really
wrong at this TARGET store. We were not asking for thousands of dollars,
not  even hundreds, just a small sponsorship for a memorial  remembrance.

FALSE ACCUSATIONS!!!
As a follow-up, I e-mailed the TARGET  U.S. Corporate

Headquarters and their response was the same.

That’s  their national  policy

FALSE ACCUSATIONS!!!

Then I looked into the company  further…
They will not allow the Marines to collect for ‘Toys for  Tots’ at any
of their  stores. And during the recent Iraq deployment, they would not
allow families of employees who were called up for active duty to
continue their insurance coverage while they were on military service.
Then as I dig further, TARGET

is a French-owned corporation. FALSE ACCUSATIONS!!!

Now, I’m thinking again. If TARGET cannot support American Veterans,
then why should my family and I support their stores by spending our
hard earned American dollars!  And,

have their profits sent to France. FALSE ACCUSATIONS!!!

Without the American
Vets, where would
France be today?
FALSE ACCUSATIONS!!!

‘They, most likely would be speaking German and trading in Deutsch
Marks’

Sincerely,
Dick Forrey
Veterans Helping Veterans

Please send this on to everyone you know

to let Target know

we don’t need them either

FALSE ACCUSATIONS!!!

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Not A Joke!! If you dislike attorneys….. You will love them for these tips.

Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED.’

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the ‘For’ line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won’t have access to it.

3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.

I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We’ve all heard horror stories about fraud that’s committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.

Unfortunately I, an attorney, have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.

But here’s some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

5. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

6. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

But here’s what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)

7. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the internet in my name.

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves’ purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:

1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
3.) Trans Union : 1-800-680 7289
4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271

We pass along jokes on the Internet; we pass along just about everything.

If you are willing to pass this information along, it could really help someone that you care about.

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READ AND HEED !!!!!!!!!

TWO SUBJECT LINES TO BEWARE OF :

Just verified this with Snopes and it is REAL.
ALSO WENT TO TRUTH OR FICTION, It’s on their site also.

PLEASE INFORM EVERYONE you know !

Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sent and the moment that you OPEN THESE EMAILS AND YOUR COMPUTER WILL CRASH and you will not be able to fix it!

1.) If you get an e-mail along the lines of ‘Osama Bin Laden Captured’ or ‘Osama Hanged’, don’t open the Attachment!!!!

This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe, but mainly in the US and Israel .

Be considerate & send this warning to whomever you know.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS:

2.) You should be alert during the next few days:

Do not open any message with an attached file called ‘Invitation’ regardless of who sent it.

It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which ‘burns’ the whole hard disc C of your computer!!!!

This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this E-Mail to all your contacts.

It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

If you receive e-mail called ‘invitation’, though sent by a friend. Do not open it!!! Shut down your computer immediately!!!!

This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.

This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.

This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!!!!

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For all those who make potato salad, check this out.  (Thanks, Maryann)

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Comments by Patrick Crispen of urbanlegends.about.com: As shocking as this [the below forwarded email] may sound, the “nine-zero-pound” story is true … sort of.

What the warning letter floating around the Net doesn’t say is that this scam only works on telephones where you have to dial 9 to get an outside line. Unless you have to dial 9 to get an outside line at home, this scam does not affect residential telephone users. Dialing “nine-zero-pound” on a residential phone will only give you a busy signal. That’s it.

I dialed ’0′ and asked the operator to confirm if this was correct, so please pass it on.

I received a telephone call last evening from an individual identifying himself as a Telus Serviceman, who was conducting a test on the telephone-lines. He stated that to complete the test I should touch nine (9) and then zero (0), followed by the pound sign (#), and then to hang up.

Luckily, I was suspicious, and I refused.

Upon contacting the telephone company, I was informed that by pushing 90#, you are giving the requesting individual full access to your telephone line, which enables them to place long distance calls billed to your home phone number. I was further informed that this scam has been originating from many of B.C’s local Jails and Prisons.

DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE !

The GTE Security Department requested that I share this information with EVERYONE I KNOW. After checking with Telus, they said it was true, so do not dial 90# for anyone!

Vivian Thompson, 
Crime & Fraud Prevention Coordinator,
District 5
South Surrey RCMP,
British Columbia.

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VALUABLE INFORMATION:

Advice from Snopes

Here is a nice little tidbit of information that came my way this morning. So if any of you are wondering why I didn’t return something to you that said something like ‘if I don’t get this back I’ll….or, ‘See how many flowers you can get back’, or ‘ Forward this to 10 people in the next 5 mins. or something bad will happen to you‘, etc.

The following is why I don’t send them back.

Advice from Snopes.com

Read the full story here: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.asp

1) Any time you see an E-Mail that says forward this on to ’10′ of your friends, or sign this petition, or you’ll get bad luck, good luck, or whatever, it almost always has an E-Mail tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and E-Mails of those folks you forward to.

The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of ‘active’ E-Mails to use in SPAM E-Mails, or sell to other spammers.

2) Almost all E-Mails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards.

All it was, and all any of this type of E-Mail is, is a way to get names and ‘cookie ‘ tracking information for telemarketers and spammers – - to validate active E-Mail accounts for their own profitable purposes.

You can do your friends and family members a GREAT favor (PLEASE) by sending this information to them; you will be providing a service to your friends, and will be rewarded by not getting thousands of spam E-Mails in the future!

If you have been sending out (FORWARDING) the above kinds of E-Mail, now you know why you get so much SPAM!

Do yourself a favor and STOP adding your name(s) to those types of listings regardless how inviting they might sound! You may think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are NOT in the long run. Instead, you will be getting tons of junk mail later! Plus, we are helping the spammers get rich! Let’s don’t make it easy for them!

Also: E-Mail petitions are NOT acceptable to Congress or any other organization. To be acceptable, petitions must have a signed signature and full address of the person signing the petition.

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FYi: FEF checked into this announcement with the National Do Not Call Registry and this is their advice:

Your registration will not expire. Telephone numbers placed on the National Do Not Call Registry will remain on it permanently due to the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007, which became law in February 2008. Read more about it at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/04/dncfyi.shtm.

So, if you’re already signed up and you haven’t changed your telephone number, there is no need to re-register.

Heres the FW: email…

REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public next month.

REMINDER…. all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS.

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone:   888-382-1222.

It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years PERMANENTLY. (see updated info in FYI above).

You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked.

You cannot call from a different phone number.

HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.

It takes about 20 seconds.

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