e-Rumours

Two days ago, my mailbox was flooded with mails from friends (who mean good, I guess) on this can't-resist freebies -

Did you also receive one?

I am always irritated by such "forwards". To "justify" that I have reason to be "irritated", I did a search and had this result -

Analysis: Here's a chain letter that doesn't even make sense on the face of it. To quote the main premise as stated in the version circulating since 2007:

The Ericsson Company is distributing free computer laptops in an attempt to match Nokia that has already done so.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but Nokia has never distributed free laptop computers to email forwarders. Nor are they ever likely to do so. Nor is Sony Ericsson.

All you need to do to qualify is to send this mail to 8 people you know. Within 2 weeks, you will receive Ericsson T18.

Sounds easy enough and tempting, too, but get this: the Ericsson T18 is a cell phone, not a computer. Moreover, it's a discontinued model. They don't sell it anymore!

But if you can send it to 20 people or more, you will receive Ericsson R320.

Again, the Ericsson R320 is a cell phone, not a computer. And discontinued, to boot!

What gives? The email above is slightly revised version of a nine-year-old hoax promising free phones to frequent forwarders. Though the phrase "computer laptops" has been substituted in the newer variant to reel in more suckers, evidently the anonymous prankster who revised the original couldn't be bothered to change the model numbers of the supposed promotional items.

The email address to which copies of the forwarded message are supposed to be sent, anna.swelung@ericsson.com, is a corruption of the address specified in the 2000 version of the hoax (anna.swelund@ericsson.com), which, of course, was never valid in the first place.

2009 update: On May 12, 2009 Sony Ericsson released the following statement in response to a new version of the hoax:

Hoax Competition Email

Sony Ericsson has been made aware of an online email campaign claiming that Ericsson will give away a free laptop computer to users who forward the promotional information. The same campaign includes a photograph of the Sony Ericsson logo and mentions an Ericsson contact name and email number.

Sony Ericsson confirms that this email campaign is a hoax. In addition, Sony Ericsson confirms that the Ericsson contact name does not exist.

All competitions and promotions involving Sony Ericsson are run through official channels such as Sony Ericsson’s website or Sony Ericsson’s partners’ websites. Please be wary of any competition or promotion that appears to come from outside of Sony Ericsson or Sony Ericsson’s partners official channels. Examples of these include via spam emails or SMS.

Now, please, please, do not forward anything simply. You might be spreading "e-rumours".