BCC Warning

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For more information on this letter see:

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/bcc.htm

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BCC Warning

Please when you email me, bcc me. Thanks

Subject: What happens when you forward someone else’s email
address I received this message today from a friend. It really is
an important message for me to forward on because I have
noticed that many of my friends send me things that they have
received from other friends. While it seems easy to just click
forward and put our friend’s names in the TO field of our email
program’s address box, it really is a dangerous thing to do.

This story illustrates just how dangerous it can be. Please read
it. (I am placing these instructions before the story so that you
will know how to forward your email in the future.)

Before you forward this message or any other message to
someone, please do the following: (NOT HARD TO DO)

1. REMOVE all email addresses that were forwarded or sent to
you on the message. Use the delete key, or the editing functions
on your email program after you hit the Forward key.

2. DO NOT use the TO field to send the mail on. USE the BCC
field. This means “Blind Carbon Copy.” It will list only the
name of each individual receiver on the email. NOBODY
ELSE’S email address will be shown.

TO USE BCC: Simply click BCC instead of TO. It works just
the same. If you add names from your address book, just add
them to the BCC field instead of the TO field.

As an added bonus of using this feature, your email message
won’t have all those addresses at the beginning. No one will
have to scroll through the addresses to get to the message that
you have sent. Please take the time to read this. It could prove
to be very important.

The following individual asked not to be identified, but she
asked that this letter be forwarded to anyone who does not bcc
(blind carbon copy) online … and to spread the word. Please
read this; it is not a joke.

Late one evening, while online, I received an IM (Internet
message) from a gentleman who said he knew me through
mutual pals online. We chatted for an hour or so before
deciding to keep in touch, as we had so many things in
common. I eventually, after a week or so of knowing him,
trusted him with my name (first name) and phone number; after
all, he knew my friends and I felt he must have been OK if they
all liked and knew him. He knew a lot about them, he knew a
lot about me, and he knew a lot about a lot! He seemed like
such a nice person, a pleasant person, and someone whom I felt
very comfortable sharing my time online (and on the phone)
with.

One night, a friend from our group of friends invited me to a
chat room where several of the friends had gathered and were
chatting when this gentleman popped into the chat room. He
popped in and then left quickly. Then, for the first time since I
met and started chatting with him, I mentioned him to one of
the friends who was in the chat room one whom this gentleman
claimed association with. She was in total awe, she did not
know who he was! Things were beginning to look really
suspicious. The more she and I chatted, the more suspicious it
became. It also became apparent that this guy knew none of us.

Suddenly, he disappeared off-line for a few days…then one day
he pops back in and sends me an IM saying that we need to
talk. He called me at my home and I was very upset, so I asked
him how he really found me and why he had felt the need to lie
in the first place. This is where you all need to pay attention:
He told me that he spotted my screen name on a forward that
one of my friends sent to someone else. My screen name is
what attracted him. He then used the screen name of others on
the list of forwards to acquaint himself with me and various
others from our clique of friends. He also used the member
directory (at AOL) to look up info about others on the list of
forwards, so not to look suspicious. He said he felt it was the
only way he would have the chance to get to know me, and the
main attraction to me was “My Screen name” because he
thought it was “sexy!”

I was upset, needless to say, as I had trusted this man with my
personal info … such as phone number and name. He also knew
where I lived (thanks to the phone bill) and I was now his prey!
A few days after having last talked to this person and thinking
that was the last of him, I received a phone call at 4:00 a.m., it
has this man telling me he was in town to see a friend who
lived 20 minutes from my house, and wanted to know if I
would like to meet him for coffee or breakfast. When I told him
it was not such a good idea, he became irate and hung up on
me.

I immediately called him back caller ID) and explained to him
that my husband was back home (trying to scare him) and
please not be so mad (in fear of him and what he might do).
Telling him that my husband had returned and we were
reconciling was a lie, and I told him this to make him think I
was not alone!

Imagine the feeling I felt in the pit of my stomach when he
came back with the following response “You’re a lying bitch,
your husband is not there with you…you are alone!” I hung up
on him and immediately called the Broward County Sheriff’s
office and told them what had happened. They sent an officer
over to take a report and said that was really all they could do
for me at that time. So, I packed a few belongings into my car,
and drove to my sister’s home for the night.

Fifteen or twenty minutes after I arrived at her home, I received
a phone call from this man again! He knew I called the Sheriff
[he used a police scanner from Radio Shack] and reported him,
he knew where I was and he knew my sister and her husband’s
names! People, let me tell you something, this man had been
talking me for weeks and I had no idea! I walked, ate, slept and
breathed in constant fear until he was finally arrested for
stalking! Not for stalking me! Nope! For stalking another lady
who lived in Kendall, FL.

I wanted to share this with you all. And yes, it is all true.
Friends, when you forward things and you leave your friends
names out in plain view like that, you are putting THEM and
YOURSELF in what could be grave danger. I hope I have
gotten this message across; as I have not even begun to mention
his assault (rape, using deadly force) charges the detectives
from Broward County and Kendall, FL uncovered on him while
investigating his prior history!

People, please! Be safe, be careful and BLIND CARBON
COPY(BCC)! This is NOT a joke and NOT a hoax. PLEASE
REMEMBER: It is Important to *remove ALL personal email
when forwarding items from this, or any other list to
individuals or other discussion groups (unless the message asks
readers to contact them via email or phone).

Remember, a lot of us have a great deal of information in our
SIG’s (signature files that appear at the bottom of many of our
messages). In addition, the blind carbon copy (Bcc) option
makes the individuals you send email to unseen by all other
recipients E-mailers should also cut out email addresses from
forwards when forwarding the message on. I know I have
received unsolicited e-mail’s from individuals who have gotten
my address via a forwarded message from this group.
Although more annoying than serious, it could have been
worse.