Possible e-mail virus hoax

[Andro Gagne]

Folks:

        One member of a university students' listserv (of which I am also a member) has sent a message to that listserv about a supposed virus which looks to me like some of the e-mail virus hoaxes I've seen in the past. I'd appreciate it if one of the WEB4LIB veterans could tell me whether this indeed is another hoax so I can properly inform the listserv members. As my request is not exactly a WEB4LIB type issue, I'd suggest that responses be sent to my e-mail address. The content of the message in question follows this message. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Best regards,

Andro P. Gagne
apgagne at Friend.roc.servtech.com

New Virus...

WARNING!!!!!! If you receive an e-mail titled "JOIN THE CREW"  DO NOT
open it!  It will erase EVERYTHING on your hard drive! Send this
letter  out to as many people you can.......this is a new virus and
not many people know about it!

This information was received this morning from IBM, please share it
with anyone that might access the Internet.

Also, If anyone receives mail entitled; PENPAL GREETINGS! please
delete it WITH OUT reading it!!  This is a warning for all Internet
users -there is a dangerous virus propagating across the Internet
through an e-mail message entitled "PENPAL GREETINGS!".

DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY MESSAGE ENTITLED "PENPAL GREETINGS"!!

This message appears to be a friendly letter asking you if you are
interested in a penpal, but by the time you read this letter, it is
too late. The trojan horse" virus will have already infected the boot
sector of your hard drive, destroying all of the data present.  It is
a self-replicating virus, and once the message is read, it will
AUTOMATICALLY forward itself to anyone who's e-mail address is present
in YOUR  mailbox!

This virus will DESTROY your hard drive, and holds the potential to
DESTROY the hard drive of anyone whose mail is in your in box, and
who's mail is in their in box and so on.  If this virus keeps getting
passed, it has the potential to do a great deal of DAMAGE to computer
networks worldwide!!!!

Please, delete the message entitled "PENPAL GREETINGS!" as soon as you
see it!  And pass this message along to all of your friends, relatives
and the other readers of the newsgroups and mailing lists which you
are on so  that they are not hurt by this dangerous virus!!!!

Please pass this along to everyone you know so this can be stopped.
PASS THIS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS!!! WARNING !!!  This is a new virus going
around in the last couple of days!!!  DO NOT open or even look at any
mail that you get that says: "Returned or Unable to Deliver" This
virus will attach itself to your computer components and render them
useless. Immediately delete any mail items that says this.  AOL has
said this is a very dangerous virus,and there is NO remedy for it at
this time, Please Be Careful, And forward to all your on-line friends
A.S.A.P.