Rachel Arlington Chain Letter (2002 Variant)
Netlore Archive; The Rachel Arlington chain letter: Can you save a dying child's life by forwarding this email?
Description: Email hoax
Circulating since: March 2002 (this version)
Status: False
Email attachment as circulated beginning in March 2002:
 Click to Enlarge |
Comments: For those who can't read the text overlaid on the image above (reduced to fit on this page), here's what it says:
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Subject: Leukaemia - Please read then Forward
If you delete this ... you seriously don't have a heart. Hi, I am a 29 year old father. Me and my wife have had a wonderful life together. God blessed us with a child too. Our daughter's name is Rachel, and she is 10 months old. Not long ago the doctors detected brain cancer and in her little body. There is only one way to save her ... an operation. Sadly, we don't have enough money to pay the price. AOL and ZDNET have agreed to help us. The only way they can help us is this way, I send this email to you and you send it to other people. AOL will track this email and count how many people get it. Every person who opens this email and sends it to at least 3 people will give us 32 cents. Please help us. Sincerely George Arlington |
Apart from the image, this message is virtually identical to a text email circulating since August 2000 (the only important difference being that in the original message we were told that the dying little girl, Rachel Arlington, was 10 years old, not 10 months).
Needless to say, this is a hoax. Rachel Arlington isn't dying of brain cancer, leukemia or any other disease. She doesn't exist. AOL and ZDNet aren't "tracking" how many times the message is forwarded, let alone donating funds toward paying for the nonexistent child's medical treatment.
Click here to read more about this and similar "dying child" hoaxes.
Further reading:
Charity Hoaxes Tug Cynically at Heart Strings
What do Rachel Arlington, Jessica Mydek, Amy Bruce and Timothy Flyte have in common?Netlore Index: Sick, Dying & Missing Children
Alphabetical listing of rumors and hoaxes
