!!! Klingerman Virus Alert !!! This one arrives through postal mail. (TRUE??)

[ArkiStan]

I don't know if this is true, but it was sent to me.
Can somebody confirm its validity ? I've gotten so many
things like this in my e-mail so I'm not just about to
believe it, but JUST IN CASE it is true, I thought it
would be good for you guys to know.

-----------------------------------------------------

A t t e n t i o n :

This is very scary and is not a joke. Please read
- it definitely is a serious threat to our lives and
health. This is an alert about a virus in the original
sense of the word...... one that affects your
body.....not your hard drive. There have been 23
confirmed cases of people attacked by the Klingerman
Virus, a virus that arrives in your real mailbox, not
in your e-mail inbox.

Someone has been mailing large blue envelopes,
seemingly at random, to people in the U.S. and Canada.
On the front of the envelope in bold black letters is
printed " A Gift For You From The Klingerman
Foundation".

When the envelopes are opened, there is a small sponge
sealed in plastic. This sponge carries what has come
to be known as the Klingerman Virus and public health
officials state this is a strain of virus they have
not
previously encountered. Those who have come in contact
with the Klingerman Virus have been hospitalized with
severe dysentery. So far seven of the twenty-three
victims have died. There is no legitimate
Klingerman Foundation, mailing unsolicited gifts.

If you receive an oversized blue envelope in the
mail marked "A Gift For You From The Klingerman
Foundation". Do not open it !!!!!

Place it in a strong plastic bag or container &call
the police immediately. The "gift" is one you
definitely do not want to open.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE THAT YOU CARE ABOUT

[g222leav]

FAKE....i read that it was a flop along with the airplane/tourist pic.

it's totally bogus. anyways, that stuff is usually automatic garbage

[El Scorcho]

if it were real im sure the post office wouldnt be putting it in your mailbox

[ArkiStan]

true true....

[chrissy]

Had to send this to my mom earlier

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa050800a.htm?once=true&

This One'll Kill You!
Dateline: 05/08/00

By David Emery

09/20/01 Update: Following the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil
September 11, 2001, the year-old "Klingerman Virus" email hoax was
resurrected on the Net, apparently because the specifics of the story
resemble a germ warfare scenario. In one new variant the name of the
foundation supposedly sending out contaminated sponges by mail in blue (or
yellow) packages has morphed to "Kinderman," but otherwise the text is very
similar to the original. Below is our May 2000 commentary on the earliest
version of the hoax. (See also: "Beware the Lethal Blue Package," a later
variant.)

[Burzhui]

oh god, i guess some people need attention :rolleyes:

[g222leav]

Originally posted by El Scorcho
if it were real im sure the post office wouldnt be putting it in your mailbox

you sure?

that's what you get when you don't give your mail man a gift on xmas!

[zenbooty]

dysentery is treatable, anyways.

[irwin]

Hey, ucbstan, did you know you dled a virus like 3 weeks ago? ;)

[eSDee]

This is hilarious. My girlfriend found this one on Snopes (http://www.snopes2.com/toxins/klinger.htm). Here's an exerpt about the idiocy:

On 20 May 2000, a Palm Beach woman who had read the "Klingerman" warning on the
Internet, received a pale blue envelope that promised a cash prize and was stamped
with the words "restricted access" in the mail. She wrapped it, unopened, in a plastic
grocery bag; two days later, she called 911 to consult with them about what to do with
it.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies, a bomb squad, a hazardous materials team and
a postal inspector converged on her home that day to inspect the envelope.

"It had to be handled appropriately in the event there was something to it," sheriff's
Capt. Michael Gauger said.

But as the bomb squad prepared to x-ray the envelope, a neighbor told them she had
received a similar letter, opened it and found magazine ads inside.

On 25 May 2000, a terrified resident of Auburn, Maine, called 911 after receiving an
envelope from the Handyman Club of America containing a free sanding sponge. As the
Associated Press reported: "Emergency dispatchers kept [him] on the line while fire
trucks, cruisers and ambulances rushed to his home. The street was sealed off for half a
mile. Police called the FBI. People in spacey hazardous materials suits ushered [him]
outside, stripped him down to his shorts and sprayed him with a fire hose before
sending him to the hospital."

It's a pity whoever started this hoax doesn't get the same treatment.

[attgig]

LOL....

for you guys who need 'real' evidence...
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/klingerman_hoax.htm

[ArkiStan]

Originally posted by Passwird
Hey, ucbstan, did you know you dled a virus like 3 weeks ago? ;)

yeah I know man. I can't believe how stupid I was. I had read so many times about the what the e-mail messages of the scram virus look like. But I happened to be expecting a certain file from a friend at the time. The attached file actually sounded like the file I was expecting, so I just downloaded it. what an idiot. Well, I went through a lot of trouble emailing the vaccine to all the friends on my mailing lists....a lot of gotapex people emailed warnings to me after receiving the infected emails from me. damn...I felt pretty bad.

[topane]

Personally, I use a little formula for deciding whether or not to believe something:
If I receive it by email, it's false.

[Markel]

"This is very scary and is not a joke. Please read - it definitely is a serious threat to our lives and health."

Those opening lines alone are enough to get my "urban myth" defense system activated and send me to www.snopes.com for a (usually positive) verification.

[attgig]

Originally posted by ucbstan


yeah I know man. I can't believe how stupid I was. I had read so many times about the what the e-mail messages of the scram virus look like. But I happened to be expecting a certain file from a friend at the time. The attached file actually sounded like the file I was expecting, so I just downloaded it. what an idiot. Well, I went through a lot of trouble emailing the vaccine to all the friends on my mailing lists....a lot of gotapex people emailed warnings to me after receiving the infected emails from me. damn...I felt pretty bad.

he he, yeah, we noticed that you had avoided the forum for a few days after we all got the virus :).