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. McAfee AVERT has not received any report of a user's hard drive being erased for opening the email.

The Olympic Torch Hoax first surfaced in February, 2006, just days before the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Winter Games in Turin.

It is a slightly revised version of a virus hoax circulating since 2000, popularly known as " A Virtual Card for You " or "Destroys Sector Zero " 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.

Please read the attached warning issued today.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS:

You should be alert during the next days:

Do not open any message with an attached filed called "Invitation" regardless of who sent it .

It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

If you receive a mail called "invitation", though sent by a friend, do not open it and shut down your computer immediately.

This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.

This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.

This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, COPY THIS E-MAIL AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS AND REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US.