Received email from family member advising me of new virus that Norton is investigating, saying she checked with snopes.com and that it is real. Please advise

Sure most AV's are investigating everyday, an invitation attachment those have been around for a while a new version perhaps.
Is there a name to this new virus ?

BTW I moved this topic to the serious discussion forum it doesn't belong in the XP forum

Hi waynf...

If you're talking about the Olympic Torch Invitation...then yes, it's a hoax.

Olympic Torch Invitation

You can check for hoaxes at hoax-slayer.com

wannabe1

I got an advisory from a friend today. I think what waynf may be talking about is the same one I got the warning about. It's listed in the "Urban Legend" section of snopes.com and is listed as a hoax on McAfee. The one I got the warning for was called "Postcard."

McAfee says:

Characteristics -

-- Update Dec 01, 2003 --
The El Financiero Satellite News Service has published the article "A New Powerful Computer Virus Unleashed", which was based on this hoax rather than an actual virus.

AVERT HOAX Notice!!

McAfee AVERT Labs would like to inform you of an email HOAX.

This email message is just a HOAX, currently we know of no other message that the user will receive about the HOAX as the initial email states. AVERT has not received any report of a user's hard drive being erased for opening the email.

We are advising users who receive the email to delete it and DO NOT pass it on as this is how an email HOAX propagates.

[Below is the actual text from the message that may be received via email.]
Original English version


Recently a new virus was discovered that was classified by MICROSOFT www.microsoft.com and by MCAFEE www.mcafee.com to be the most damaging of all time! This virus was discovered late yesterday by MCAFEE and still there is no development of a vaccine!This virus simply writes zeros on the hard drive, where the vital information for the operation of the PC is kept. The virus activates in the following manner: 1. By email it is received with the title 'A VIRTUAL CARD FOR YOU', when opening the message, it sends itself to all in the address list soon... 2. It hangs the machine, forcing the user to reboot the system.3. AT the moment in which the keys ctrl+alt+del or the RESET button is pressed, it writes zeros to the hard drive making it unusable forever.By the previous information, please, take precaution with the use of electronic mail and, of course, if you receive an email which you do not know the origin of, simply delete it without opening.Please, send this message to the most people possible!!!!In a few hours yesterday, this virus caused panic in New York, according to CNN www.cnn.com.

Aliases: Destroys Sector Zero hoax, Discovered Yesterday Hoax, Most Destructive Ever Hoax , Panic In New York Hoax, Una Tarjeta Virtual Hoax

However, it seems that there is a real "postcard" virus (according to McAfee) which is detailed at: http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp

This hoax has been around in some form for years now, and I don't think an old thread had to be dug up just to post about it.