Who is Diane J. Ford from the Chief of Police?

The name Diane J.Ford from the Office of the Chief of Police has surfaced from an email hoax that dates back about 15 years ago.

In 2001, rumors say that several women have died from sniffing perfume or detergent samples sent to them through the mail.

Collected via e-mail and Facebook, the said email hoax reads:

Very Important !

URGENT News from Glen Eagles Hospital URGENT !!!!!

Seven women have died after inhaling a free perfume sample that was mailed to them. The product was poisonous. If you receive free samples in the mail such as lotions, perfumes, diapers etc. throw them away . The government is afraid that this might be another terrorist act . They will not announce it in the news because they do not want to create panic or give the terrorists new ideas.

Send this Fwd: to all your friends and family members.

Diane J. Ford

Office of the Chief of Police

Office of Risk Management

101 M Street, SW

Washington, DC

According to internet myth buster Snopes.com, the claim is false.

There was nothing to the claim, and no such deaths occurred. Its premise that the government was keeping such news from the public so as not to cause panic was rather far-fetched, given that at the time Attorney General John Ashcroft was repeating vague warnings about further terrorist activity to come and the media’s fascination with reporting the anthrax spore mailings that eventually killed five people. Even if the government had the power to keep such news under wraps, is it at all reasonable to believe seven grieving families would have stayed completely silent about the deaths of their loved ones?

By 2010, the alert had morphed into one warning against all manner of samples offered to consumers, either placed in their mailboxes or handed to them directly. At that time as well, Tide detergent samples were particularly singled out, usually with the assertion that they contained anthrax. By January 2012, the warning about Tide detergent samples was being spread by cell phone text message. These subsequent rumors were also false.

This baseless bit of scarelore appeared to be a combination of two older, equally unfounded pieces of the same genre: the perfume robbers tale (women in parking lots lured into sniffing cut-rate perfume lose consciousness and are robbed while they’re out) and the Klingerman virus scare (blue virus-laden sponges mailed in envelopes marked “A gift for you from the Klingerman Foundation” have caused 23 deaths). But lore moves forward with the times, so this newer caution incorporated “terrorists” (presumably Middle Eastern) into the mix.

Additionally, sources say that no one named Diane J. Ford (or Duane in some chain emails) works for the Office of the Chief of Police (Office of Risk Management).

As per MalwareBytes.com, a hoax (to trick into believing or accepting as genuine something false and often preposterous ) is the word we use for a fake warning. Since they are not only annoying and confusing, but sometimes even potentially harmful, they deserve some attention.

Hoaxes started out as emails and the idea was the same as the one behind chain letters. I used to call them “lazy viruses” since they depend on the receiver to spread the hoax further amongst his contacts. Nowadays hoaxes are most active on social media, especially Facebook. This has considerably increased the speed with which they spread.

The No. 1 rule to follow when it comes to internet hoaxes is that you can’t believe everything you read. So, whenever you see some incredulous news or a juicy scandal being exposed online, it’s time to do a little extra digging to make sure it’s legit. Keep in mind that legitimate news will check out in multiple areas, so you should always keep numerous factors in mind (courtesy of Nobullying.com):

Check the source (Is the website a reliable and respected source? Have you even heard of it before? Believe it or not, there are actual internet hoax websites devoted entirely to spreading false information).

Is it being reported by multiple, reliable sources?

Is the date current?

How well is the post or article written? (Legitimate sources often have professional writers and editors working for them).

Look at the surrounding advertisements (if they appear to be largely spam, the info may not be legitimate)

Beware of pop-ups (if there are multiple pop-up advertisements, exit your internet browser immediately).

Are you being asked to give personal information? (If so, close the window right away).

Are you being asked to “share this post” to receive further information and/or gain some other reward? (Don’t do this. It’s most likely a hoax).

If the information is received in an email, take a look at the sending address. Do you recognize it?

Of interest, check out the 14 Greatest Hoaxes of All Time, featured at MentalFloss.com.

TIP: McAfee.com shares advice on how to avoid receiving hoax emails.