Dean Krogen and the Ether-Perfume Email

Dean Krogen, an employee of KVLY-TV in Fargo, ND, has had the unfortunate experience of being irrepairably attached to one of the more absurd 'chain horror' emails warning against sampling parking-lot perfumes.

The Email

The email was circulating long before Krogen became associated with it. It reads, almost always verbatim:

I know not all of you are women that I am sending this to, but am hoping you will share this with your wives, daughters, mothers, sisters, etc. Our world seems to be getting crazier by the day. Pipe bombs in mail boxes and sickos in parking lots with perfume. Be careful. I was approached yesterday afternoon around 5:30 PM in the Wal-Mart parking lot by two males asking what kind of perfume I was wearing. Then they asked if I'd like to sample some fabulous scent they were willing to sell me at very reasonable rate. I probably would have agreed had I not received an e-mail warning of a "Wanna smell this neat perfume?" scam.

The men continued to stand between parked cars, I guess to wait for someone else to hit on. I stopped a lady going towards them, pointing at them and told her abo ut how I was sent an e-mail at work about someone walking up to you at the malls or in parking lots and asking you to

SNIFF PERFUME that they are selling at a cheap price.

THIS IS NOT PERFUME...IT IS ETHER!

When you sniff it, you'll pass out. They'll take your wallet, your valuables and heaven knows what else. If it were not for this e-mail, I probably would have sniffed the 'perfume' but thanks to the generosity of an e-mailing friend, I was spared whatever might have happened to me. I wanted to do the same for you.

PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG TO ALL YOUR WOMEN FRIENDS AND PLEASE BE ALERT AND BE AWARE. IF YOU ARE A MAN AND RECEIVE THIS, PASS IT ON TO YOUR WOMEN FRIENDS.

This warning has been unanimously poo-poohed as sensationalist claptrap. However, it continues to be forwarded as friendly safety advice, feeding on on women's fears of being taken advantage of in broad daylight in a public place, and being disabled to the degree that they can do nothing about it.

Dean Krogen

Dean has worked for KVLY-TV in Fargo since around 2001-2002 as an account executive, and has participated in the local chamber of commerce.

Krogen and the Email

The earliest record I can find of Krogen forwarding this email comes from November 2003, in a message board called "Prison Talk". While some email-forwards steal the name of a somewhat credible person to lend authenticity to the message, it does not appear to be the case in this particular message. Other versions, such as this one from fishingbuddy.com, include Krogen's email footer, which includes all of his contact information at work, down to his celphone. This would appear that the original email was likely to have come from Krogen's desk, rather than his name being pulled out of thin air by a scammer looking for an authoritative air. That message from fishingbuddy.com also has a comment from someone claiming to have a friend-of-a-friend who says Krogen would never have written this, but it does not indicate that he wouldn't have forwarded it. Smart, powerful people have been decieved by this email; at a company meeting for a former employer, the company president started off the meeting with a reading of this email to warn the female employees when walking to their cars after work. It appears that, without a doubt, Krogen forwarded this email to at least one person internet-savvy enough to place copies of the message far more places he would have expected.

Ongoing spread of the email

The earliest copies attached to Krogen or KVLY tend to include his office information from the email footer. As time went on, however, the email footer was removed, except for Krogen's name and employer; it still did not identify him as the writer of the email, but as someone who had forwarded it in the past. The attribution has continued to shrink now that, for the most part, Krogen's name has been taken entirely off of the email -- but the body is now crediting the text of the entire message to a guy from KVLY-TV in Fargo. This attribution fails to make sense, however, because while it claims to be written by 'a guy', the story included in the email is obviously from a woman's point of view.

Summary

Although almost four years have passed since the earliest mention of Krogen's connection to the email, his connection to a media outlet has given greater credibility to the email, and his credit as "a guy from KVLY-TV in Fargo" has been cemented for all time.