No, Bill Gates will not give you $5000, $1000, $245, or even just $1 for forwarding an email. Yet thousands, if not millions, have still forwarded the email hoax that circulated and evolved for over two decades.
The viral chain email is under a content type called a "giveaway" email hoax. The central theme of the various iterations of the hoax is that Microsoft developed a beta of an email tracing program or tracking system and that Bill Gates will hand out cash to those who will forward the email.
Origin of the Bill Gates Chain Email Hoax
The email claimed to be written by Bill Gates himself was first sent around November of 1997. The exact date is still unclear, but there are different copies of the email dated November 18, November 21, and November 24 of 1997.
But a more important question would be: who started the hoax?
Theresa Heyd wrote in her book "Email Hoaxes" that the now-defunct Glires.com website traced the original email to a computer science student from Iowa named Brian Mack. It was not supposed to be malicious at first and was simply a private joke among friends that got way out of hand. This "origin story" was corroborated by Wired in 2004.
This is the original email:
"Hello everybody,
My name is Bill Gates.
I have just written up an e-mail tracing program that traces everyone to whom this message is forwarded. I am experimenting with this and I need your help. Forward this to everyone you know and if it reaches 1000 people everyone on the list will receive $1,000 at my expense.
Enjoy.
Your friend,
Bill Gates"
Looking at the original text, it does seem understandable that it's just a private joke. It doesn't seem credible and little to no effort was put into it. But obviously, in hindsight, it became a widespread email hoax.
So if this simple chain email widely circulated, how would an elaborate version become more viral? The answer is "easily."
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The Bill Gates Email Hoax Variations and Virality
Over the years, the email hoax giveaways became more believable. They included more details of the tracing program or tracking system, included the Microsoft Team as a signee, and adds some computer jargon the general population wouldn't understand. There is even a version that has Walt Disney Jr. as the sender.
Basically, the variations added more elements of reliability. But three things remained constant: Microsoft is implementing a beta test, they need people's help in forwarding the message, and that Bill Gates will personally give them some cash for their efforts.
Here is an example of one of the hoax's variants:
"Dear friends: please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates is sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, you will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies, and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used search engine program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user?) For a two-week time period, for every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00. For every person that you sent it to, that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00, and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address, and then send you a check.
Regards,
Charles S. Bailey
General Manager, Field Operations"
Notice how more formal the language is and that a certain general manager Charles S. Bailey is now the one sending the email. This may be an attempt to make it more official and more real because why would the almighty Bill Gates personally email people?
Nevertheless, there were a number of these variations and the Bill Gates giveaway hoaxes continued to circulate for two decades. Maybe even now there are still some out there. Fraud Prevention Unit has a 2017 article about the Bill Gates email hoax so it still persisted at least until 2017.
Bill Gates and Microsoft Response
The good news is that as early as 1999, Microsoft debunked the credibility of these emails and Bill Gates himself sent out a personal advisory in 1998.
"That's what makes electronic junk mail and e-mail hoaxes so maddening. The 'free' distribution of unwelcome or misleading messages to thousands of people is an annoying and sometimes destructive use of the Internet's unprecedented efficiency," Bill Gates said expressing his displeasure at the spam emails
The bad news is, why are they still spreading? Are some people just too gullible? Maybe we'll never know. But with more people becoming more computer literate today, email hoaxes and spam may finally disappear.
As to the motivations behind the originators and makers of chain email hoaxes, Heyd said that no precise information exists. As opposed to hackers and scammers, originators of email hoaxes don't really have a concrete motivation like money, feeling of power, and peer recognition.
Our best guess is maybe it's just for the giggles.
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