There is a long tradition of hoaxsters transmitting untrue stories about the suffering of victims of cancer, either to raise money, to harvest valid email addresses, or to cause trouble.[1][2][3]
| alleged victim |
1st year active |
notes |
| Ashley Kirilow |
2009 |
|
| Jessica Ann Leeder |
2010 |
|
| "Jessica Mydek" |
1997 |
- The letter from "Jessica Mydek" represented itself as a letter from a 7-year-old girl with terminal brain cancer, but the American Cancer Society determined there was no such child.[12][13][14]
- The Jessica Mydek letter requested recipients to forward the letter as widely as possible among their friends and acquaintances, and include a bogus email address on the carbon copy list, that they claimed was that of the American Cancer Society. The email addresses on the carbon copy list were subsequently sold to other online fraudsters.
|
| Tamara Martin |
|
- The Tamara Martin chain letter tells recipients that Dave Matthews, of the Dave Matthews Band, will send his American Online screen name to them to reward them for forwarding Tamara's story to their friends.[12][15] The letter reports that Tamara has six months to live.
|
| Amy Bruce |
1997 |
- The Amy Bruce chain letter claimed little Amy was "suffering from lung cancer due to second hand smoke and a large brain tumor due to repeated beatings."[15][16][17]
- Versions of the Amy Bruce chain letter have been circulating from as early as 1997.[18]
|
| Brigid A. Corcoran |
2010 |
|
| Shona Holmes |
2005 |
- Holmes appeared on television ads on American TV during America's debate over reforming its health care system.[20] Holmes warned American viewers against following Canada's single payer system, claiming she had a life-threatening brain tumor, and claiming that she would have died due to inherent delays in the Canadian medical system.[21][22] It turned out that she never had a brain tumor, that she had a common congenital condition called a Rathke's cleft cyst.[23][24][25]
- Holmes claims she has received death threats.[26]
|
| Jonathan Jay White |
2009 |
|
| Craig Shergold |
1980s |
- In the 1980s a boy named Craig Shergold really was suffering from cancer, and he really did request the public help him get listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.[12] He was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.[29] He didn't die. But his story captured the public's imagination, and variations of his story continued to circle the Globe, as chain letters, for decades.
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