Read this blog and get a free laptop!

Firstly, in the interests of managing your expectations, no - there is no free laptop.

After all, why would there be? Laptop computers are expensive, valuable things. I'm hardly going to give you one just for reading a few paragraphs of text, am I? If you stop and think about it for a moment, it just doesn't make sense.

Which is why I was surprised to receive an e-mail earlier this week claiming that if I would just forward it on to 8 people, then Ericsson were going to give one to me.

Here's the test of the e-mail:
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Subject: Free Ericsson Laptops

Hi everyone
Ericsson are distributing free laptops for their brand promotion.
They hope to increase their popularity and sales by this campaign.
All you need to do is send an email about this to 8 people and you will receive an Ericsson T18 Laptop.
However, if you send an email about this to 20 or more people, you will receive an Ericsson R320 Laptop.
Make sure you send a copy to: anna.swelung@ericsson.com
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OK, let's tackle this one thing piece by piece.

If Ericsson were really trying to boost sales, why would they be giving away their products for free?

Ericsson T18 and R320 are mobile phones, not laptops, and discontinued models at that. Incidentally, I didn't know that off the top of my head. But, googling the text of the e-mail turned up (in one of the top links on the first page) that this e-mail was a hoax.

I'd guessed that already, but apparently none of the three people who forwarded this on to me either thought about it, nor took the time to check the facts before forwarding it on. One of those three isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, bless her, but the other two really should have known better. And judging by the number of forwards in the body of the message, the world is not short on gullibility.

I've previously received others: Bill Gates is giving away his fortune, apparently, and I'll get a free bottle of champagne for passing on another. Once again, the premise is the same: you get something for doing virtually nothing. I'm sorry to break this too you, but life doesn't work that way.

I once challenged an ex-boss of mine - someone who really should have known better - over her forwarding such a message out over company e-mail. It wasn't my smartest career move, and her response was "It's worth a try - it can't hurt to give it a go."

I was even less popular when I pointed out that the message (with all the headers and forwards) was 25 kilobytes big. If all 160 users at the company received just a single copy, that's 4Mb of data we've paid for coming down out internet link. If every recipient sent it on to 20 people as the message suggested, that's 81Mb of e-mail going out again. That is the first way chain letters like this can hurt - by directly increasing internet costs, or by blocking up e-mail systems, delaying the delivery of other, more important e-mails.

The second cost is to the individual's, and the company's, reputation. At the time, I was working for a professional services company. For a senior manager to send out a message from a company e-mail address makes a clear statement: "We have so little respect for our clients that, not only will we publish/broadcast your e-mail address to a group of strangers for our own selfish benefit, but we also can't be arsed doing a basic internet query to check our facts before showing you how stupid we are."

As I said, it wasn't the smartest career move I've ever made. But I stand by my comments then, and now.

Rich people, and rich companies, do not stay rich by giving away something for nothing. And if a spammer can pay $20 for a thousand e-mail addresses, why would someone give you a laptop for just 20?

A little common sense goes a long way.