This is the most recent in a long line of E-mail hoaxes that promise free stuff if you perpetuate them.
This one promises a Free IBM computer as a promotion because of a Hewlett-Packard and Gateway merger.
This is a hoax. There is no encoding that can track who sent a particular email or how often it is forwarded. (But spammers just love great big untrimed headers. They download them right into their spam generators.) And IBM is not giving away computers.
Hewlett-Packard and Gateway have just merged to form the biggest computer supplier in the world! Bigger than Dell, Bigger than IBM, bigger than them all!In response to this amazing merger, IBM has set aside 250,000 free computers to reward and keep it's most loyal and trusted customers! I've already got mine (Sridhar), read on to see Now you can get yours!!!
This email has a special encoding which will let IBM know every time you send it to one of your friends or relatives.The first 250,000people who send this to at least 15 of their friends will receive a brand new IBM computer!
After you send this to your friends, and qualify, IBM will contact you via email, and get your shipping address. Send them your address, and in a couple of days, a brand new computer, complete with printer, and 19" monitor is sitting on your doorstep!
You must hurry, because this offer ends July31 of this year! Here's the catch, though. Each of your friends must send this to at least 5 people or you won't be eligible, so choose your friends wisely!
Remember, a true friend will send this along for you!
That's all it takes, no strings attached! No purchase necessary!!!You don't even have to have previously purchased a computer from IBM!
They want to earn or keep your future business, and they're willing to pay for it!!! Take Care, and let's get some new computers!!!