Life Owner and Mail Server Report are the names of email hoaxes that claim one thing but deliver another. They may look real and useful, but they usually just contain a virus in the hope that users will forward the message to as many people as possible to spread the virus.
Since it’s so easy to spread email messages with just a few clicks, and since the email world is so full of pranks, it makes sense that pranks like Life Owner or Mail Server Report would be seen so often.
What are Claims of Deception
These email scams could be a form of an earlier hoax like the Life is Beautiful virus hoax that started around 2002. It describes a yet-to-be-found virus in a Microsoft PowerPoint PPS file named Life is beautiful.pps.
Some iterations of the hoax describe the “owner of life” as a person who is suing Microsoft for patent infringement.
This hoax claims to have been confirmed as legitimate by Snopes and Norton, but you can read what they have to say about it on the Snopes Life Is Beautiful Virus and Mail Server Report pages and on Norton’s website.
Since 2002, and especially around 2009, this email scam has been found in emails and even on Facebook.
Example of mail server/life owner report hoax
Here’s a common example of this email scam:
Subject: Read immediately! See below. Confirmed by Snopes. Anyone who uses Internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, etc. This information arrived this morning, directly from Microsoft and Norton . Please send it to everyone you know who has access to the Internet. You may receive a seemingly harmless email titled 'Report from Mail Server' If you open either file, a message will appear on your screen saying, 'It's too late, your life is no longer beautiful.' Subsequently, you will lose EVERYTHING ON YOUR PC, and the person who sent it to you will have access to your name, email and password. . This is a new virus that started circulating on Saturday afternoon. AOL has already confirmed the severity, and antivirus programs are not capable of destroying it. The virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself 'owner of life'. PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THIS E-MAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS, and ask them to PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY! . THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY SNOPES.
What to do with this email scam
This email scam is completely useless and serves no purpose. Anyone who receives this email is being spammed through unnecessary messages and will find no real use for the email.
Also, some iterations of the scam explain that there is a virus out there that needs to be got rid of to avoid infection, so it attaches a file to the email that supposedly provides a way to clean the computer. However, that attachment is, in fact, the virus itself.
The best course of action if you receive the Life Owner or Mail Server Report email hoax, is to immediately remove it from your email account by deleting it. Even if it appears to be from someone on your contact list, go ahead and delete it to prevent it from circulating further than it already has.
Tip: As always with computer-related threats, it’s important to scan your computer for malware and make sure it’s protected by an antivirus program.