The Olympic Torch hoax warns email users to be wary of emails with the subject line "Invitation", and claims that it has been classified as "the most destructive virus ever." The hoax claims that the "virus simply destroys the Hard Disc". Anti Virus specialist Sophos and Symantec are reporting that they are receiving an increasing number of reports of the hoax from users who are concerned it may be genuine. Part of the hoax message reads as follows: 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 While the hoax is not destructive it does cause innocent users to over-react to the alert. Sometimes users become convinced that they have become infected by the bogus virus, and when their anti-virus software "fails" to find the infection resort to deleting critical files or formatting their hard drive. Hoaxes like this, while posing no physical threat, are a nuisance and cause untold wasted time and resources. Whenever you get such a message asking you to effectively chain email everyone that you know it is always worth check on the Internet first to see if it is real or a hoax before wasting your time and the time of all those that you are about to email.

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