Resident Evil: Capcom hoax

While many eyes were drawn to the deliberately Trojaned Mosquito game, Sam Gibson of Ferrago was reporting on the T-Virus, an elaborate cellphone virus hoax designed by Capcom to drum up interest in their soon to be released 'Resident Evil: Outbreak' game. According to Gibson, "The virus uses a pyramid award scheme to encourage people to send the virus on to as many contacts a possible so as to increase their chances of blagging some exclusive Resident Evil: Outbreak promotional material." Targeted recipients of the T-Virus hoax receive an SMS text message that reads in part, "'Outbreak: I'm infecting you with T-Virus" and are directed to a Capcom-owned website. That website provides the means to 'infect' other SMS users in an attempt to win prizes. While all this may sound like good harmless fun to some, others argue the company is offloading the marketing costs to consumers. As Gibson points out, "it is members of the public who are paying (SMS fees) to do their work for them." Worse, the viral marketing campaign could cause some to disregard legitimate virus warnings - the virtual equivalent to crying wolf - or lull others into a false sense of complacency, and even more eager to open attachments or follow links to booby-trapped websites.