The name Diane J.Ford from the Office of the Chief of Police has surfaced from an email hoax that dates back about 15 years ago.
In 2001, rumors say that several women have died from sniffing perfume or detergent samples sent to them through the mail.
Collected via e-mail and Facebook, the said email hoax reads like this:
According to this Snopes article, the claim is false. This warning about women killed by poisoned perfume samples surfaced in e-mail in mid-October 2001, a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There was nothing to it: no such deaths occurred.
And sources say that no one named Diane J. Ford (or Duane in some chain emails) works for the Office of the Chief of Police (Office of Risk Management).
Of interest, check out 8 Hoaxes that Fooled the Internet, featured at BGR.com.
TIP: McAfee.com shares tips on how to avoid receiving hoax emails.