Choose Charleston

or Why Not To Forward Email

The Internet is a wonderful tool, and speeds the distribution of information to incredible rates. Unfortunately, for pranksters, it’s also a wonderful tool, and speeds the spread of their misinformation to incredible rates as well.

Recently, I received an email, which I’m sure has incarnations all over the net, using different names, but since the version to reach me claims to be from Charleston, I thought I’d spend a little time debunking the contents. So, here in its entirety, is a copy of the email. (I have deleted the scores of email addresses of the many well-meaning individuals who passed it along until it reached my skeptical little hands.)

Dear Friends

My name is Curt Beerman and I live in Charleston, SC. My son Jermaine recently was hit by a car in front of our apartment. Little Jermaine has had many problems with his lungs and right arm since the accident. Our medical costs have become extremely expensive. Jermaine was recently moved to a hosptial in Colombia, SC and the move was very expensive. I could not keep my job at the sanitation department due to the move. A billionaire in Georgia has promised to give $.05 for every time this email is forwarded.

If you wouldn’t mind forwarding this to everyone on your list I would greatly appreciate it as well as my son. Your good deeds could really save his life. Please take a few seconds to help us in our time of need. I know how many of these go around and I want you to know that they really help, if you have any doubts, please E-mail me at the hospital, they have been so kind as to set me up with an e-mail account. My address is: beermanc@musc.edu Please have a heart and forward this.

Remember: What goes around comes around.

Thank you,
Curt Beerman
beerman@musc.com

They way I see it,
If you want the rainbow,
you gotta put up with the rain.

No problem is too big for God’s power.
No person is too small for God’s love.

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh;
is anything too diffucult for Me?
Jeremiah 32:27

The first thing that struck me was the claim to residency in Charleston, yet the poor child has been moved to a hospital in Columbia. Now, I’m sure there are some very good hospitals in Columbia, but you don’t transfer someone from the top hospital in the state unless they’ve improved and need to be closer to home. Usually, the more serious cases in South Carolina are rushed to MUSC, not away.

Next comes the zinger, that mysterious “Billionaire” who has promised to donate a nickel for every time the email is forwarded. First of all, just like Microsoft and Disney are not going to give you a vacation for forwarding some email, there is no billionaire who wants to donate money based on how many times an email is forwarded. There is no software today, which tracks how many times an email gets forwarded, nor can I imagine a need for such software.

Think about it, would you really want to accept money from someone so sadistic as to offer you hope for your ailing child, then make you jump through such ridiculous hoops to get it? Not me.

The next very odd thing is the email address provided in the body of the email. The originator claims the hospital set him up an email account. Let’s forget for a minute the odds of a hospital actually doing this. He claims his son is in a Columbia Hospital, yet has a MUSC address. MUSC is in Charleston, not Columbia. Why would a hospital give an account to a relative of someone who is a patient of another hospital? Ofcourse, the glaring inconsistency with this part of the story is the address itself. MUSC, being the Medical University of South Carolina has a “.edu” extension, not a “.com”.

Finally, comes the part which is designed to cause the most stir, the “threat.” “Remember: What goes around comes around.” Then, just to tug on the emotions of those, probably most likely to want to help, he throws in a quote from the bible.

For more information about email chain letter hoaxes, read this feature about David “Darren” Bucklew, from the About.com Urban Legends Guide, David Emery.

So, what harm can it do to pass along these hoax emails? After all, you’re only trying to help. First, it ties up valuable resources and band width on the net. Then, if it’s pervasive enough, it can overload the email server of an institution like MUSC. Finally, it annoys the heck out of those people who know a hoax when they see one.

The best reaction to such an email is to ignore it.