It was abused - it was reported in the Observer yesterday as a spam email:
"It was a heart-wrenching photograph and it deceived thousands: the blonde toddler on a hospital bed, unclaimed and unknown. Anyone receiving the email, purporting to come from the Thai hospital where the boy was being cared for, was entreated to pass it on to as many people as possible: 'Please, please: send this to everyone in your address book,' one version of the email ran. 'It is our best chance of finding someone who recognises this boy and can help us find his family.'
People responded generously, forwarding the email to dozens of people, each of whom passed it on to dozens more, unaware that they had fallen victim to an internet virus scam which they were passing on to their friends.
The real story of Hannes Bergstrom, the 20-month-old toddler from Sweden, began and ended on 28 December, when reports that the child had been found by a roadside in Thailand were swiftly followed by the news he had been claimed by his father, Marko Karkaainen.
But the email which wormed its way into the country's intray last week will continue for much longer, anti-virus experts have warned, opening everyone who received it to viruses and an explosion in the number of spams they will receive.
'This is a dangerous spin on the chain-letter concept that appears innocuous but can insert a vicious virus into people's computers and enables the generator to harvest thousands of email addresses to sell to spamming companies,' said Stephen Masters, co-founder of Emailkey.com, one of Britain's largest anti-spam groups.
'It is entirely characteristic of spamming companies that they see the disaster as a marketing opportunity. They prey on emotions and abuse the gullibility of those who want to do something good, making it much more likely that they follow whatever instructions the email contains and open attachments they would usually ignore.'"