Christmas Cards for Recovering Soldiers HOAX

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Christmas Cards for Recovering SoldiersThis message advises recipients that they can send Christmas cards addressed to
“A Recovering American Soldier” care of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
While this might seem like a good way to show support for wounded soldiers, the information in the message is incorrect. (See Example Below) Cards sent to “A Recovering American soldier” or similar will not be accepted by Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In fact, the original Walter Reed Army Medical Center closed down in 2011. The facility was reborn as the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and is now located in Bethesda.

Example:
Subject: FW: Christmas Cards
GREAT IDEA!! When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much would get.

When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following:

 A Recovering American Soldier
 c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
 6900 Georgia Avenue,NW  
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

 

Here Is The Real Deal

[ad name=”G-Rectangle-right”]Each year the American Red Cross provides assistance to more than 2 million service members and many of our nation’s 24 million veterans. They support military families, military and veterans hospitals and provide emergency communications across the globe. And once a year, we get the joy of delivering holiday cards to veterans, military families and active-duty service members at hospitals and installations around the world.

The cards and personal messages, sent by tens of thousands of Americans, provide a welcome “touch of home” for our troops during the holiday season.

Updated 4/8/2016

2016 Holiday Card Guidelines
http://www.redcross.org/local/connecticut/holiday-mail-for-heroes/card-guidelines

DO…
Ensure that all cards are signed and include a short message

  • Write heartfelt sentiments, keep messages positive and upbeat – Please remember cards will be delivered LOCALLY, do not include “come home safe” or “get well” messaging
  • Make cards more meaningful to a wide variety of recipients by using “Dear Hero” rather than any more specific language. Note: Cards addressed to specific individuals cannot be delivered through this program.
  • Each card does not need its own envelope, as envelopes will be removed from all cards before distribution

Do not…
Give personal information such as home or email addresses

  • Use lots of glitter as it could aggravate existing health issues of wounded, ill or injured recipients
  • Include inserts of any kind (they will be removed during the sorting process)

Mail cards to:
American Red Cross
158 Brooklawn Avenue
Bridgeport, CT 06604

All cards must be posted by Friday, December 2,, 2016 to be included in this year’s deliveries.

Please note, due to the volume of cards received, we are unable to provide individual acknowledgements of your donation.

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Death by Arsenic Poisoning Bogus Warning

Eating Shrimp and Taking Vitamin C Can Cause DeathEating Shrimp & Taking Vitamin C
Can Cause Death by Arsenic Poisoning

Please read if you eat shrimp…
YOU MAY POISON YOURSELF ACCIDENTALLY

Health message warns friends and family not to eat shrimp while taking vitamin C because it can cause a chemical reaction that can lead to sudden death by arsenic poisoning.

The claims in the message are nonsense. There are no credible cases that back up the claims in the message and no reported deaths like the one described.  Sharing false warning information helps nobody.

911HealthShop.com
911 Health Shop an Excellent Place for Health and Fitness Products

Example Post or Email:

A woman suddenly died unexpectedly with signs of bleeding from her ears, nose, mouth & eyes.
After a preliminary autopsy it was diagnosed that death was due to arsenic poisoning.
Where did the arsenic come from?
The police launched an in-depth and extensive investigation. A medical school professor was invited to come to solve the case.

The professor carefully looked at the contents from the stomach. In less than half an hour, the mystery was solved.


The professor said: ‘The deceased did not commit suicide and neither was she murdered, she died of accidental death due to ignorance!’ Everyone was puzzled, why accidental death? The professor said: ‘The arsenic was produced in the stomach of the deceased.’ The deceased used to take ‘Vitamin C’ everyday, which in itself is not a problem. The problem was that she ate a large portion of shrimp/prawn during dinner. Eating shrimp/prawn is not the problem that’s why nothing happened to her family even though they had the same shrimp/prawn. However at the same time the deceased also took ‘vitamin C’, that is where the problem was! and it goes on explaining the chemical reaction in detail but by this time the terminal forwarder/sharers have already spammed us all with this absolutely bogus information.

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Facebook Will Soon Require Social Security Number Hoax

Facebook Will Soon Require Social Security NumbersBogus Warning
Facebook Will Soon Require Social Security Numbers

Message circulating on Facebook claims that, as an anti-spam measure, users will be required to enter their social security numbers when they login to the network from Expect this one to rear its ugly head in April around tax time.

The claims in the message are false. Facebook will not require users to login with their social security numbers. The claims originate from an article published on a satirical humor website. The article is intended as satire and was never meant to be taken in any way seriously.

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Deadly Sanitary Pad Hoax

deadly sanitary padDeadly Sanitary Pad Responsible for 53 Deaths

Widely circulated warning message claims that a deadly sanitary pad called Fill In The Blank has recently caused 53 women in Any Country to bleed to death due to the inclusion of chemicals in the pad’s material.

The claims in the message are nonsense. There are no credible reports that support the claims in any way. An earlier and equally false version of the warning claimed that the women had died in Nigeria. Spreading this false information will help nobody and may cause unnecessary fear and alarm. Please do not forward or repost this bogus warning.

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Calls From +375 and +371 Numbers

Calls From +375 and +371 NumbersImportant Missed Calls Hoax

Message circulating via SMS, social media and email warns you not to return missed calls from numbers starting with +375 or +371 because you will be charged between $15 and $30 for each returned call and your contact list and financial information will be instantly stolen from your phone.

There are elements of truth to the warning but the information it contains is nevertheless highly misleading and inaccurate. Reports indicate that many people have been caught by a scam in which they were charged international call fees for returning a missed call from +375 or +371 phone numbers. However, this fee was reportedly much less that $15. Moreover, the claim that simply returning the calls can result in personal data being instantly stolen from the user’s phone is nonsense. It is not possible for information to be stolen from a phone in the way described.

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Web Legends and Hoaxes

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Web Hoaxes Intended to MisInformIdentifying Hoaxes & Web Legends

Chain Letters and Share Button are familiar to anyone with an e-mail or facebook account. Whether its a warning about a new product crime wave or internet virus sent by a stranger or well-intentioned friends or family members. Please for the safety of the millions of new internet users made popular by the use of smart phones, tablets, ipads and the like who are not familiar to web hoaxes and scams practise due dilligance before you Share or forward. Do your best to verify the information before following any instructions or passing the message along to all your friends and family. This site is deticated to helping you sisern all this information and protect you and your friends from falling victom to this somtimes harmless but somtimes very dangerouse practise of perpetuating web legends hoaxes and scams.

[ad name=”G-Rectangle-right”]There are two main types of abused misinformation:

  • Hoaxes — Hoaxes attempt to trick or defraud users. A hoax could be malicious, instructing users to delete a file necessary to the operating system by claiming it is a virus. It could also be a scam that convinces users to send money or personal information.
  • Web legends — Web legends are designed to be redistributed and usually warn users of a threat or claim to be notifying them of important or urgent information. Another common form are the e-mails that promise users monetary rewards for forwarding the message or suggest that they are signing something that will be submitted to a particular group. Urban legends usually have no negative effect aside from wasted bandwidth and time.

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National Kill A Pit Bull Day

Hoax Warning Message National Kill A Pit Bull DayHoax Warning Message

Warning message circulating via social media claims that October 31 (Halloween Night) has been designated as “National Kill a Pit Bull Day” and warns dog owners to lock up their animals because people have been instructed to go out and kill as many pit bulls and other dog breeds as possible before midnight on the designated day.

The message is a hoax. The warning is an attempt to get back at a man named Terry Jordan, a city councilman in a small Missouri town who crafted a ‘vicious dog’ ordinance that proved unpopular with local pit bull lovers. Someone created a fake social media account in Jordan’s name and posted the message. It soon spread far and wide via Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, with many recipients apparently believing the warning to be valid.
Example:

National Kill A Pit Bull Day
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