splines in space

i tend to be on campus late into the evening, over the last week or so i have had the feeling people have regarded me with suspicion. now i find out why; a hoax email is being sent via the uni email that reads something like this ...

To: xxxxx@uea.ac.uk
Subject: CCTV still of Rapist

Hello,

During the early morning of January 25 2006, a campus student was the victim of a horrific sexual assault within college grounds. Eyewitnesses report a tall black man in grey pants running away from the scene. Campus CCTV has caught this man on camera and are looking for ways to identify him. If anyone recognises the attached picture could they inform administration immediately

obviously there is no image, the file is a virus payload ... but the email seems to be spreading meaning that people are taking it seriously. Hoax and virus emails are designed to be plausible by fulfilling our stereotyped concepts of reality

its' sad people still believe all that malarkey