AOL/Intel E-mail Forward Hoax Refuses to Die

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It’s been around on the net for years — AOL and Intel are merging, and they want to give you lots of money for forwarding their e-mail. Actually, they want Microsoft to give you lots of money. No, actually, it’s Microsoft that’s urging the forwarding, and Bill Gates is funding the exercise in personal, exponential economic destruction himself. And if you act now, Time-Warner will throw in a certain Bridge in Brooklyn…

Iterations of this hoax — in which AOL, Intel or Microsoft give away money for annoying one’s friends with a gazillion forwards — have been around for years. The hoax is a convoluted hybrid of at least three different earlier hoaxes, and stopped making sense (if it ever made sense) sometime in 1999. Here’s what it looks like:

Date Collected: 01/20/2002

To all of my friends, I do not usually forward messages, but this is from my
good friend Pearlas Sanborn and she really is an attorney. If she says that this will work – it WILL work. After all, what have you got to lose?

SORRY EVERYBODY…..JUST HAD TO TAKE THE CHANCE!!!

I’m an attorney, and I know the law. This thing is for real.

Rest assured AOL and Intel will follow through with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion dollar class action suit similar to the one filed by PepsiCo against General Electric not too long ago.

We’re not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a little something for our time. My brother’s girlfriend got in on this a few months ago. When I went to visit him for the Baylor/UT game.

She showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and was stamped “Paid In Full”. Like I said before, I know the law, and this is for real.

Intel and AOL are now discussing a merger which would make them the largest Internet company and in an effort make sure that AOL remains the most widely
used program, Intel and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

When you forward this e-mail to friends, Intel can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period.

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $203.15.

For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $156.29.

And for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $17.65. Within two weeks, Intel will contact you for your address and then send you a check.

I thought this was a scam myself, but a friend of my good friend’s Aunt Patricia, who works at Intel, actually got a check of $4,543.23 by forwarding this e-mail.

Try it, what have you got to lose????

Date Collected: January 31, 2000

Message is at the bottom! I hope this works and everyone is prosperous!!!!!!!!!

I’m an attorney, and I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assured AOL and Intel will follow through with their promises for fear of facing an multimillion dollar class action suit similar to the one filed by Pepsico against General Electric not too long ago.

I’ll be damned if we’re all going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a little something for our time.

My brother’s girlfriend got in on this a few months ago. When I went to visit him for the Baylor/UT game she showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and was stamped “Paid In Full”.

Like I said before, I know the law, and this is for real. If you don’t believe me you can email her at jpiltman@baylor.edu. She’s eager to answer any questions you guys might have. Thanks, Dirk. I know I’m already in.

Moore, Dirk wrote: If you don’t do this, you must be really, really dumb. From: James M. Schwarnica

This is not a joke. I am forwarding this because the person who sent it to me is a good friend and does not send me junk. Intel and AOL are now discussing a merger which would make them the largest Internet company and in an effort make sure that AOL remains the most widely used program, Intel and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. When you forward this e-mail to friends, Intel can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period.

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $203.15, for every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $156.29 and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $17.65 Within two weeks, Intel will contact you for your address and then send you a check. I thought this was a scam myself, but a friend of my good friend’s Aunt Patricia, who works at Intel actually got a check for $4,543.23 by forwarding this e-mail.

Try it, what have you got to lose????

This hoax has been around for years, and even though it makes less and less sense with each iteration, people still insist on forwarding it.

At this point, just taking the time to actually read the e-mail’s illogical meanderings should tell people it’s a hoax. According to this thing, Intel and AOL are merging to form a monster internet company. Well, AOL is no longer AOL; now it’s AOL-Timer-Warner (because of a massive merger that did happen. And Intel? It’s a hardware company; it makes processors (the brain that runs your computer).

Ok, so we’ve got some slightly wacky facts in here, but hey, maybe the writer was just being lazy. But then, around the middle of the e-mail we find out in order to insure that AOL remains on top, AOL/Intel are running some sort of e-mail beta test. If you forward the e-mail, Intel will track your message for two weeks.

Now, aside from the fact that e-mail tracking programs do not exist, at least it’s operating on some sort of logic. But then that logic is promptly thrown out the window with the next line in which readers are told that for forwarding this e-mail to help AOL/Intel, Microsoft will pay them money.

Huh? What? Why the heck would Microsoft pay money to help AOL remain the top internet service? Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend that money to help their own internet service, MSN?

Oh, that’s right. This is a hoax. It doesn’t have to make sense. (and actually, if you’ve seen the still earlier versions of this hoax it does make sense — in that version Microsoft and Intel are merging).

Here’s the formal debunking:

  • Where’s the news? If AOL-Time-Warner was really merging with Intel, the news would be everywhere — TV, newspapers, web sites, radio. Just like the real AOL and Time-Warner merger was.
  • Where are the promotions? If any of the companies carrying out this “beta program” were really, wouldn’t they mention it somewhere on their web sites? Especially considering that the quantity of money they would probably be giving away would far outstrip any promotional campaign in history?
  • Intel debunks it: This hoax is debunked in on Intel’s web site as s part of the snydicated PC Parents column. Read the column.

These sites also have debunkings of this haax:

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