Fighting malware and spam

Honda

This email claims that people who forward it will build up an account with Honda. The message includes a couple of 'case studies' in an attempt to persuade recipients that this 'offer' is genuine. It is not.
This is not a virus hoax, but a hoax nonetheless (VB receives a number of enquiries about the Honda email). Simply delete the email.

Hoax text

Dear valued potential customers:

Here at Honda we have been well known for over 20 years for providing
the best in reliability, comfort, and style. Over the years we have
risen to be one of the top auto industries here in Japan. But that isn't
enough. We want to be number one in the US. Now our twentieth
anniversary for making cars is here!!!

This is the perfect opportunity for you and us here at Honda to
celebrate our 20 years of excellent service. We have been trying to
think of ideas to get more people to know about our cars. And with
technology and e-mail being the wave of the future, we want to jump on
this opportunity. So we have set up a rewards system to repay those who
help us spread the word about Honda. Our marketing staff has designed a
special program that traces this message as it travels across the US.
Anyone who forwards this e-mail, will immediately have an account at
their local Honda dealer opened in their name. This account will
initially be opened with a credit of $1,000 toward any new or used
vehicle at their participating dealership. For each person you forward
this e-mail to, the amount of $200 will be added to your account. If the
recipients of this e-mail forward it you will be rewarded an additional
$100 for each person it reaches and if they also forward it your account
continues to grow in $100 increments. You can log onto our website at to
check the balance of your account. If things go well and everyone
participates you should see your account grow quite quickly. Follow the
on screen instructions to order the specific make and model of Honda you
want to buy with your account. We hope that this is a rewarding
experience for you and us. Our goal is to reach over 1 million computers
by the year 2000.

I thank you for your time and business, Sincerely,

Kageyama Hironobu, Senior Honda Marketing Advisor
	

VB reminds users: if you receive a virus warning message, do not forward the message to all your friends/colleagues, as it may suggest in the text. If you have verified that the message is a hoax, simply delete it. If you are unsure, forward the message to your IT administrator. Failing that, forward it to hoax@virusbtn.com. It is possible that you may receive a hoax email with a file attachment. Since it is possible that these attachments could be infected VB advises such files to be be treated with the same caution as any other unexpected message attachment and urges users not to open them.

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