Mumbai: A popular hoax that starts doing the rounds once every six months is the one supposedly send by a Arvind Khamitkar, IAS, Director of Medical and research division, Chennai. The mail says people in Chennai are being infected with HIV by a needle bearing the tag, "Welcome to the world of AIDS". But an official from the Medical and Research division who did not wish to be named said that it was a hoax and no one by the name of Arvind Khamitkar worked there.

Dr J K Maniar, AIDS Counsellor Cell of the Indian Medical Association who also works with the AIDS cell at Jaslok Hospital, he had been approached by a number of people asking if what the mail said was true: "This is a misconception. The surviving route of transmission for the virus is sexual intercourse and the virus being passed from mother to child."

The Cell

Yet another mail going around that has been uploaded verbatim on many media sites says cell phones will cause over 2 billion people cancer.

One such mail, circulated by an NGO Eco Source, claims that studies conducted in Australia proved that a third of the world's population was doomed because of the increase in mobile usage.

However, when Sunday MiD DAY spoke to Suneel Sardana, president of Eco Source, he admitted he did not have the research in hand for reference. "This was something I had read in a print publication. But I am convinced that the ramifications of mobile usage will increase unless nipped in the bud."

Experts aren't impressed with his mail or reasoning. "It's all a bit of foolishness in my opinion," says Dr Nagraj Huilgol, oncologist at the Nanavati Hospital, and editor of the Journal of Cancer and Therapeutics.

"There is no scientific evidence to prove that mobile phones are the direct cause of cancer or other ailments. Also, when I see cancer patients, a few might come up to me and express regret at having picked up a cigarette when they were young, but certainly, no one comes to me saying they wish they had never used a mobile phone," he added.

Medical consumer activist Dr Arun Bal says the paranoia hasn't hit Indian consumers yet. "We don't have people coming in, saying they suffered severe psychological or physical trauma after reading these emails. That is a good sign. However, addiction to anything, including your cell phone, is bound to have some side effects and therefore we recommend judicious use."

Gokul Narayan, senior faculty at the Asian School of Cyberlaws, Pune differentiates between the various spam and phishing mails. "Some mails are harmless and are generated just out of the user's anxiety. They don't harm the computer or user.
 
But some may fool the user or cheat them of money if they fall for it," Narayan said.
"People should be cautious about opening mails from strangers," he added. Some mails are  generated to malign certain people or are filled with information about offers guaranteeing cash prizes and money.

Bill Gates in charity mode

For example, one mail doing the rounds says that Bill Gates wants to share his fortune with users to make the Internet Explorer the most used platform. The mail, apparently generated by Microsoft, guarantees US $145 for every person you send the mail to. Deepak Maheshwari, Director, Corporate Affairs, Legal, Microsoft, refuted the mail. "This is certainly a spam mail, and Microsoft has not issued any such mails. Why should the company adopt these measures?" he asked.

Jeevak Ingle, an engineering student who surfs the Internet regularly also received such a mail. "My friends fell for such an earning opportunity and asked me to try my luck. But I feel these mails are best ignored," he said.