Drawing on remembered fear of the anthrax scare, an e-mail hoax is alleging that seven women have died after inhaling few perfume samples they received in the mail.
I wrote the original debunking on 12/16, but updated it on 10/24 with new information from the CDC (which further debunks the hoax).
Here’s the original e-mail:
Date Captured: 4/6/2002
Seven women have died after inhaling a free perfume
sample that was mailed to them. The product was
poisonous. If you receive free samples in the mail such
as lotions, perfumes, diapers etc. throw them away .
The government is afraid that this might be another
terrorist act. They will not announce it on the news
because they do not want to create panic or give the
terrorists new ideas. Send this to all your friends and family members.”
When confronted about forwarding e-mails to people, one of the things I hear most often is “well, you never know”. Well folks, in this case, we damn well do know. Even without having searched on line, I knew this e-mail was a hoax. In the post-9/11 world in which we all live, it is impossible for seven women to have been killed by perfume samples without being bombarded by the news every hour of every day, from every imaginable news source.
The e-mail tries to cover this by saying that the government is “afraid that this might be another terrorist act” and that the government doesnt want to create a panic or give terrorists new ideas.
This flies in the face of eveything that weve seen since 9/11 — hell, half the time if a terrorist sneezes the government issues an ambigous warning about possible threats against U.S. interests. Now we have learned that the government hasn’t told us about other threats — like a possible nuclear attack on New York City — but that was because they decided the threat wasnt legitimate enough.
And hell, forget the government entirely for a second. Even if the government was trying to orchestrate some sort of hush campaign, do you think that — for even a moment — news organizations in this country would remain silent if this e-mail had the slightest hint of validity? (and if you do, it may be time to re-fill your prescription…)
In searching around the net, I couldnt find a single news story reporting any perfume-related deaths. And I have a really hard time believing that Illuminati have orchestrated yet another world-wide cover up, but forgotten to include this particular e-mail in their conspiratal dragnet. For the record, the government sites are also quiet on this affair. For the record, the FBI’s Web site is quiet on these alleged attacks (but not on the anthrax ones, which you can still find in their archives).
The Centers for Disease Control does mention the attacks … but only to debunk them on their hoaxes page. According to the CDC, no such attacks have occured.
The Centers for Disease Control does mention the attacks … but only to debunk them on their hoaxes page (it’s no longer available online however). According to the CDC, no such attacks have occured.
Here are some debunkings from other Web sites: