Phenylpropanolamine Computer virus hoaxes have been around for nearly as long as the first virus. Just after the 1988 introduction of the infamous Morris Internet worm, the first hoax began circulating. One might even consider hoaxes to be a cottage industry for the virus writers. Indeed, hoaxes, with their ominous warnings or fictitious promises of instant wealth, often seem far more believable to users than do legitimate warnings of actual threats. This in itself is disturbing, as once burned by a hoax many choose to disregard valid alerts as well.
Hoaxes are arguably nothing more than a manually-driven email worm.
By definition, a worm is a piece of malicious code that copies itself over and over again, either on the users system or, in modern times, by spreading itself through email. While the real worm relies on sophisticated coding to achieve spread, the craftily worded hoax simply relies on the user to do its dirty deed. As a result, a hoax can spread around the Internet in hours, clogging inboxes, saturating mail servers, and frustrating administrators who are charged with debunking these erroneous messages. The fact is, hoaxes have only one purpose in life and that is to spread to as many people as possible. Quite the same goal as most viruses, in fact.