Oh yes… It happens all the time. You’re on your IM, MySpace, FaceBook, etc., when one of your friends sends you a message in a panic. The warning is of impending doom for your hard drive if you don’t act now.

If someone by the name of Ashley Marc James wants to add you to their list dont accept it. Its a virus. Tell everyone on your list because if somebody on your list adds them you will get it too. It is a hard drive killer and a very horrible virus. Please pass this on to everyone on your list. We need to find out who is using this account. Right click on the group name of your friends’ list and click: Send

That’s today’s message. Actually, that’s last December’s message, only it’s on FaceBook this time. It’s going pretty quickly, too. I checked my email to find two messages from friends on FB and by time I logged in to read them, a third had come through.

How does this happen?
This type of thing is only really a threat when people panic and forward it on. It begins as a message one person posts and a bunch of people believe. Each time it is forwarded, 10 or more people believe it and it spirals out of control. The people sending the warning blindly on to all of their unsuspecting friends become the virus, themselves. Maybe the Matrix was onto something.

What can you do?
Nothing. Well, nothing is a start. By not forwarding the warning, you’ve already decreased its impact on the internet. Go a step further. Reply and let them know it’s a hoax. Feel free to point to this article. I certainly wouldn’t mind all that buzz coming my way.

By the way, I wrote this to educate, not offend. If you’ve sent the warning to someone and feel offended, please don’t. Just consider it a reminder to not take everything on the web at face value.