The laptop that isn't

If you forward me, your reward will be a free laptop, a message says. Don't believe it, VirusBuster warns.

Hunting down malware and other threats, VirusBuster, the Hungary-based specialist of IT security continuously monitors the internet. In the past days, they have detected a new wave of a fraudulent chain message, which supposedly offers free laptops to those who forward it.

"Of course the story, which has now surfaced in Hungary for the second time in a year, is a hoax", said Dániel Székely, the head of VirusBuster's product management group. "You won't win anything if you forward the message. but you'll certainly put unnecessary extra load on mail servers. Many of us tend to forward such messages, saying it won't hurt and it may even be true. However, the time wasted on forwarding, reading and deleting these e-mails causes significant financial losses when measured on a national or even corporate level."

A copy of the message obtained by VirusBuster had "Promotion" on its subject line, and ran as follows:

"All you need to do is send an e-mail about this promotion to 8 people and you will receive an Ericsson T18 Laptop. If you send an e-mail to 20 or more people, you will receive an Ericsson R320 Laptop. Make sure you send a copy to: Anna.swelung[at]ericsson.com."

Ericsson reacted on its FAQ web page (http://www.ericsson.com/faq): "The chain letter is a fraud and has been circulating since April 2000. ... Anna Swelung does not exist at Ericsson. The legal and IT departments at Ericsson will trace the person who initiated the illegal chain letter. Ericsson is sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused and kindly ask people not to forward the chain mail further."

"By the way, Ericsson has never built laptops called T18 or R320. Both were cell phone models, many years ago", Székely added.