Let's say that only one in 10 people that receives the hoax believes it, but that on average each believer helpfully sends the message to more than 10 friends. The hoax-virus is enjoying an exponential growth curve. Before long everyone on Earth with email will have received the message at least once. Think of the bandwidth that this clogs up. Think of the time wasted by the recipients in opening and junking the message - just a few seconds perhaps, but over thousands and thousands of recipients, it all adds up.
Hoax messages are malicious.
Don't encourage them. If someone sends you a hoax message, ask them to visit this web page. Please visit some of the following sites to get a feeling for the huge number of hoax virus messages floating around in cyberspace. Learn about the myths, the hoaxes, the urban legends. You can also see a list of virus hoaxes from A to Z. Help eliminate junk mail by knowing how to identify a hoax.