Chain
e-mails are those that, in the body or
subject of the message,
asks the recipient to forward the e-mail on to multiple people. Many chain
letter e-mails are hoaxes and are often considered to be a security and privacy
risk. If the message is forwarded on by a person, it will usually show the names
and e-mail addresses of everyone you have sent it to, and possibly the addresses
of everyone the last person (from which you received it) also sent it to. The
risk is that you do not know if an unscrupulous or malicious person will receive
the e-mail with all the e-mail addresses, and what they might choose to do with
that list. Many consider chain e-mail to be a type of
spam.
