Telecommunications company, Cable and Wireless Jamaica (CWJ) is urging the public to be on the lookout for a hoax email being circulated under its name.

Representatives from the company say that an email, which claims that CWJ and Ericsson are currently involved in a promotion whereby members of the public can win free laptops is completely false.



False claims

In an email statement, Camille Taylor, corporate affairs and communication manager at CW&J said: "Cable & Wireless Jamaica is aware that there is an email currently in circulation, which states that CWJ and Ericsson are currently offering free laptops to members of the public - these claims are false."

She further stated that the company has also issued an advisory to the public via radio and the newspapers informing them to disregard the contents of this email.



Do not forward

Errol Miller, vice-president of corporate affairs and corporate communication, in shedding further light on the email, said that it instructs those in receipt to forward it to eight other persons, after which they would become eligible for winning one of the computers.

Miller, while stating that the hoax email has been in circulation for quite some time, said that it had now been updated with the attachment of the contact information of a CWJ employee in a bid to bring validity to it.

According to an online article, Ericsson 'Free Laptop' Hoax, posted on the About.com website, the 'free laptop hoax' has been around for the past seven years. It continued that the email originally 'promised' free Ericsson cellphones and that the current laptop version was a mere revision of the original by another prankster.