What is Chain E-mail?
A chain e-mail is an e-mail message that is sent to several persons with a request that each recipient send out multiple copies of the letter to a number of persons so that its circulation increases exponentially. Chain letters all have a similar pattern. If you know what to look for, they can be easy to spot. There will first be a "hook", something to catch your interest such as "Make Money Fast", "Virus Alert", or "People are dying". There is also usually a threat of some sort; something bad will happen to you if you break the chain or you are responsible for letting all your friends know about a (usually fake) computer virus that's going around. Sometimes they will play on your sympathy, perhaps by telling you that a sick child has requested that the chain letter be sent on. Then there will be the request. The request in e-mail chain letters is usually that you send the mail on to several other people.
Why are chain letters a problem?
Since chain e-mail is sent to so many people with that number increasing every time that piece of mail is sent, an e-mail chain letter has the potential to waste great amounts of bandwidth and disk space and clog up networks which can cause problems for people trying to send legitimate e-mail or do other work on the Internet. They are also illegal (in violation of Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 1302, the Postal Lottery Statute) if they contain any requests for money or items of value. They are also often damaging to a person's or organization's reputation, for example chain e-mails that illegitimately request money for an organization.
What happens if I send chain e-mails from my University account?
Users who are found to have initiated or propagated chain e-mail messages from a University account will be locked from that account for a two day period. Subsequent violations of this policy will result in additional administrative sanctions.
What should I do?
If you receive a chain e-mail, you have two good choices. Either delete the e-mail without sending it on to anyone or report the chain e-mail to Computing Services.
Examples of popular chain e-mails
These chain e-mails are still circulating
on the Internet. Beware!
Network-wide Broadcasted Messages (SPAMs)
Some people use the Internet today as their own personal broadcast medium for distributing advertisements and solicitations, many of which are for money-making schemes. The term "spam" has been coined to describe these indiscriminate, network-wide broadcasted messages. Most e-mail servers contain software that detect and prevent spam messages, but sometimes the messages make it through for distribution to campus users.
What should you do if you receive a spam message? It's best to just ignore the message and delete it from your mailbox. Never reply to these messages and never send them money. Many people who send spam messages take great pains to hide their real identity on the network, so trying to reply to their spam messages is usually futile. Many e-mail applications have filtering capabilities that can block messages from a specified addresses.