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Claim: Your free online service (list and links below) is about to cancel the accounts of users who don't forward or repost a particular
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2000]
Origins: This sort of leg pull began its life on the Internet in December 1999 with the jape quoted above that targeted Hotmail. Even among dumb hoaxes, this one takes a prize. If Hotmail (or any other service) wanted to know whether subscribers were using their accounts, why would it gather that information by having those folks forward a message to other users of the same service? Wouldn't it make more sense to simply instruct them to reply to the message? Hotmail is owned by Microsoft and has According to the auto-response Hotmail has set up to answer queries about the supposed cancellation: "The message you've received is a hoax chain letter." On the subject of dormant accounts and when they will be deleted, Hotmail has this to say in its FAQ:
What does it mean when my account is marked "inactive"?
In other words, a Hotmail account goes dormant if it's not accessed by its owner during a Currently, if you do not sign in to your MSN Hotmail account for Since that first Hotmail version, there have been numerous others, each skewering various free online services and companies. September 2001 saw the same violin used to play a slightly different song:
Attention Hotmail Users:
In a reverse of the Thousand Dollar Bill leg pull, Hotmail users are being asked to forward a particular Due to a recent increase in the number of Hotmail users, we have found that our free web-based email service has become too popular for our resources. Because free web-based email service has become too popular for our resources. Because of this, we are going to begin charging a fee to the users who are not sufficiently taking advantage of the technology we are providing them. The users who receive this email and do not forward it to at least 15 people will be charged a fee of $25.00 per month. I have conferred with my associate Sincerely, William Gates, CEO Microsoft Inc. Once again, there was no plan afoot to charge Hotmail users for their accounts, thus no looming $25 a month fee. The hoax wore a new mask, but it was still the same guy underneath. A graphical version of the "you must forward this message to  It may be prettier, but it's still every bit a hoax. A cruder version attempted to convince people that Hotmail was shutting down on  In February 2003 this badly spelled version of the Hotmail shutdown hoax appeared in inboxes:
Dear Hotmail User,
In February 2002, the Hotmail hoax was reworked into a Yahoo! one. Compare the text given below with that quoted above as the 'Example' entry at the head of the article — very little changed other than "Hotmail" became "Yahoo."
We understand that you have previously recieved many messages that have state the colising of accounts not being used within our servers. This message, however, is your final warning. Within this message is encoded a small program that will located and debug your account when sent to fifteen other Hotmail users. If you do not send this message to fifteen Hotmail users within We realize that this process is becoming an annoyance, however, this is the final message you will recieve from the Hotmail Announcement staff. Thank you for you time and cooperation. Sincerely, Calvin W. Kreantz MSN Accounts Coordinator
Dear YAHOO User,
2003 saw the hoax reappear, once again aimed at Yahoo.
Because of the sudden rush of people signing up to YAHOO, it has come to our attention that we are vastly running out of resources. So, within a month's time, anyone who does not receive this email with the exact subject heading, will be deleted off our server. Please forward this email so that we know you are still using this account. WARNING WARNING We want to find out which users are actually using their YAHOO accounts. So if you are using your account, please pass this From Mr. ALLEN SMITH YAHOO Admin. Dept. Our YAHOO system is getting to crowded!! We need you to forward this to at least Sorry for this inconvenience. Sincerely, Director of YAHOO Services BOB LOPEZ Please do this! Some of my friends have already gotten deleted and you aren't allowed to send it back to the person who sent this email to you!!!
Yahoo Alert: Yahoo is shutting down on August 17,2003 because they are running outta space and all the names are getting took up, so pass this around if you don't want your name to be deleted from Yahoo. If you don't pass this on, then your Yahoo will be shut down for good. Those that don't send, your name will be deleted August 17,2003, thanks, Yahoo Board Leader, Tom Buslowski"
In 2004, an instant messaging version of the hoax was turned on Yahoo, when the following alert was spread by concerned users of Instant Messenger:
DO NOT DELETE!!!! This is Yahoo President Jay Russell, I am sorry to announce that Yahoo has reached its maximum number of accounts two million. If you would like to keep your account for free send this to
everyone on your list. This way we can know which accounts are being used and which accounts we can delete. Send this within
In 2006 it was turned upon MSN via these two
Hey it is Andy the director of MSN, Tim Buiski, sorry for the interruption but MSN is closing the system down because too many inconsiderate people are taking up all the names, we only have
This version of the MSN hoax appeared in January 2008:
This is no joke, we are really shutting down the servers. Send it, thanks, Tim Buiski WHO EVER DOES NOT SEND THIS MESSAGE, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE CLOSED AND WILL COST $10.00 A MONTH TO USE, SEND THIS T0 EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST Hey it is Andy and John the directors of MSN, sorry for the interruption but msn is closing down. this is because too many inconsiderate people are taking up all the name (eg making up lots of different accounts for just one person), we only have Send it on, thanks. The use of msn and hotmail will cost money from summer 2006. If you send this message to
sorry to break the news, but looks like all of those warnings were real
In 2006, a version targeting Friendster (a social network web site competing with MySpace) was put into circulation:
The use of MSN and
Message from Mr. Allen Smith (manager of friendster )
In May 2006, the hoax was turned upon MySpace, the highly popular social network web site, via this pair of Friendster system is getting too crowded!! We need you to forward this to at least
Hello Myspacers. This is Tom. I wanted to inform all of you that I will be deleting thousands of myspaces next week. I don't know if you have noticed, but many times when you try to access a page it will say, Server Busy. Because of this I will be deleting people's myspaces if you do not repost this. You must have the exact title "TOM IS SERIOUS"
September 2006 saw another version of the MySpace hoax:
This is Tom, I just wanted to let everyone know that we need to clear out some space on MySpace. It's becoming too crowded, and I've posted bulletins like this before, but it doesn't seem to be working, so, if you do not repost THIS bulletin, I am sorry to say, but that means you don't get on MySpace that much, therefore you don't need to have it. This is not just one of those stupid little bulletins someone posted to scare you, this is the REAL THING! So if you do not repost this, your MySpace WILL be deleted. Remember, this is NOT a game. I'll give it a week starting tomorrow. If I don't see everyone reposting this, I WILL delete their MySpace. Just repost it as "Tom".
MySpace2 coming soon..Tom is way in debt. Payin' for MySpace, yes, the rumor is true. With all the fines and licences, Tom has become in Debt. In addition, Tom needs to clear the overly crowded site. We appoligise for the let down but Starting
Another updating of the MySpace hoax appeared in February 2007:
MYSPACE is OVER
In the spring of 2003 we began hearing about an instant message version of the "Send this info to twenty of your best friends or we'll pull your account" hoax, one threatening the loss of AOL's instant messaging service, AIM. The AOL/AIM hoax circulated primarily in two forms, both quoted below. (AOL's instant messaging service had also earlier been victimized by a fake petition asserting that only the collection of a specified number of signatures would keep the service afloat.)
If you notice, at the bottom of your myspace is says ©2003-2007 MySpace.com. All Rights Reserved. Thats because, Tom only has myspace reserved for those years. Now that it is 2007, the myspace contract is over. Tom wants to see if you really care about your myspace. He is tracking the friend I.D. of who sends it. If over 100,000 people repost it he will renew the contract. If not, myspace is over. So please repost
Sorry to break the news to you, but AIM and AOL are asking you to send this message To at least
November 2004 saw the Spring 2003 version dusted off, changed slightly, and sent out again. In that newer incarnation, the previous "starting Dear AIM users, Because of our overloading of our servers, we are being forced to extract our non-active AIM users. Because this is a free service, AOL has exceeded the budget for the AIM service. We are asking that you send this exact message to Sincerely, Mark Jenkins AOL Time Warner
Dear AIM users,
A December 2006 version widened the hoax to include Facebook:
Because of our overloading of our servers, we are being forced to extract our non-active AIM users. Because this is a free service, AOL has exceeded the budget for the AIM service. We are asking that you send this exact message to Mark Jenkins AOL Owner and Founder
Attention all Facebook membeRs.
Bottom line? It's the same leg-pull no matter which Facebook is recently becoming very overpopulated, There have been many members complaining that Facebook is becoming very slow. Record shows that the reason is that there are too many non-active Facebook members And on the other side too many new Facebook members. We will be sending this messages around to see if the Members are active or not,If you're active please send to other users using Copy+Paste to show that you are active Those who do not send this message within Founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg Barbara "the hoax diamond" Mikkelson Last updated: 3 January 2008 Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2008 by snopes.com. This material may not be reproduced without permission. snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.  Sources:
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