E-Mail at UC Riverside Helped Spread Hoax About Bananas

Oh, the unappealing tales that can slip through e-mail.

Like the warning about bananas from Costa Rica allegedly infected with flesh-eating bacteria.

When a secretary at UC Riverside’s College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences got such a warning last week, she innocently forwarded the e-mail to some friends.

And they passed it on to others, who passed it on. . . .

Within days, the e-mail about the deadly bananas--a hoax from the get-go--had been unwittingly transmitted around the world, university officials said. More troubling: The warning seemed to have the full weight and credibility of UC Riverside behind it, because one of the first e-mails included the electronic signature of a campus employee.

University officials say they have no idea how many people have been sent the e-mail, but the university figures it has about circled the globe.

The university has fielded calls from as far away as Italy, from concerned people wanting to authenticate its accuracy.

They are told it’s a hoax, university spokeswoman Kris Lovekin said Tuesday. “The university has no connection to this e-mail except perhaps through one employee who disseminated it.”