An electronic chain letter is an email that urges you to forward copies of it to other people.

The main types of chain letter are:

Hoaxes
Chain letters have warned of terrorist attacks, scams involving premium-rate phone lines, and thefts from ATMs. All were either deliberate hoaxes or urban legends.

Fake freebies
Some letters falsely claim that companies are offering free flights, free mobile phones, or cash rewards if you forward email.

Petitions
These are usually petitions against proposed legislation. Even if genuine, they continue to circulate long after the expiry date.

Jokes and pranks
The 'Internet cleaning' letter claimed that the internet would be closed for maintenance on April 1st.

Chain letters don't threaten your security, but they can:

Waste time and distract users from genuine email.

Create unnecessary email traffic and slow down mail servers.

Spread misinformation.

Encourage people to send email to certain addresses, so that these are deluged with unsolicited mail.

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Have a company policy on virus warnings.
Set up a company policy on virus warnings, for example:

'Do not forward any virus warnings of any kind to ANYONE other than the person responsible for anti-virus issues. It doesn't matter if the virus warnings come from an anti-virus vendor or have been confirmed by a large computer company or your best friend. ALL virus warnings should be sent to name of person responsible only. It is their job to notify everybody of virus warnings. A virus warning which comes from any other source should be ignored.'

Keep informed about hoaxes.
Keep informed about hoaxes by visiting the hoaxes pages on the Sophos website: www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoaxes.

Don't forward chain mail.
Don't forward chain mail, even if it offers you rewards for doing so, or claims to be distributing useful information.

Don't trust links in unsolicited email.
If you want to visit your banks website, or any site where you enter passwords or confidential information, don't follow links in unsolicited email or newsgroups. Enter the address yourself, or use a bookmark or 'favourites' link.

Hoax guide taken from Sophos