Chain letters have been around for a long time and have mostly been just an annoyance, until now.  Lately, chain letters and hoax virus warnings have been containing links to remote websites that allow the remote website to capture the user's email address when the email is opened.

While this poses no direct threat, it does verify your email address and will likely increase the amount of spam that you receive.

There is no real fix for this, except to delete chain letter emails before you read them.

Fraud Alert

Last weekend another batch of fraudulent emails were sent.  Beware of emails from eBay, PayPal, VISA, and lately, CitiBank.  These emails may look legitimate and even contain the logo of the company they are pretending to be.

The user is prompted to answer personal questions and divulge confidential information.  To my knowledge, no reputable business will ask you to send them personal or confidential information via email.  If you have any doubt about the validity of an email of this type visit the vendor's website directly from your browser.