Spam/chain email or does this really work?

sarymclary

Hi,
I got this email today from a friend, but I've no idea if this actually works, or is just another one of those chain emails.

Here's what was said:
"
> HOW TO PROTECT YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!
> I learned a computer trick today that's really
> ingenious in its simplicity. As you may know,
> when/if a worm virus gets into your computer it
> heads straight for your email address book, and
> sends itself to everyone in there, thus infecting
> all your friends and associates.
> This trick won't keep the virus from getting into
> Your computer, but it will stop it from using your
> address book to spread further, and it will alert
> you to the fact that the worm has gotten into your
> System.
>
> Here's what you do:
>
> First, open your address book and click on "new
> contact," just as you would do if you were adding a
> new friend to your list of email addresses.
>
>
> In the window where you would type your friend's
> first name, type in "A".
>
>
> For the screen name or email address, type
> "AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA".
>
>
> Now, here's what you've done and why it works:
>
> The "name" "A" will be placed at the top of your
> address book as entry#1.
>
>
> This will be where the worm will start in an effort
> to send itself to all your friends.
>
>
> But, when it tries to send itself to
> AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA, it will be undeliverable because of
> the phony email address you entered. If the first
> attempt fails (which it will because of the phony
> address), the worm goes no further and your friends
> will not be infected.
>
>
>
> Here's the second great advantage of this method:
>
>
>
> If an email cannot be delivered, you will be
> notified of this in your In Box almost immediately.
> Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an
> email addressed to AAAAAAA@AAA.AAAA could not be
> delivered, you know right away that you have the
> worm virus in your system. You can then take steps
> to get rid of it! "

Any ideas?

posted_2

No it's rubbish

thomas01155

Use a decent antivirus. The worm will send a email to everyone it wont stop on the aaa email

sarymclary

Thanks for the quick replies. I couldn't see how it would work, so my immediate thoughts were it was a hoax.

I've got a good antivirus on my machine, and regularly sweep my system too, so I'm not overly worried, but was curious as to whether this could work, and suspected it couldn't!

Jaffa.

Like Thomas said, it won't help stop the prevention of the worm The investment of a proper Antivirus like Bitdefender will stop any worm

Money_Grabber13579

Yea I agree that it won't stop it from sending it on to your contacts, however you probably should get an undeliverable response. That's the only good I can see in it!

John_Gray

sarymclary wrote: »

Hi,
But, when it tries to send itself to [EMAIL="AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA"]AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA[/EMAIL], it will be undeliverable because of the phony email address you entered. If the first attempt fails (which it will because of the phony address), the worm goes no further and your friends will not be infected.

All email addresses would be sent to. The fact that one (or more) may bounce is entirely irrelevant (and this would happen some time after all the emails were sent)!