In this paper certain ethical and social issues, insights and lessons learnt surrounding the spread of misinformation resulting from a hoax e-mail sent in South Africa on September 11 2001, linking South Africans to the World Trade Center disaster in New York are considered. A case study, based on the South African newspaper press coverage that this incident received, is discussed. The factual contents are provided in the form a time line, followed by the grouping of stakeholders and a list of stakeholder comments of an ethical, a social or legal nature. Subsequently, various ethical perspectives are explored, different approaches to ethical analysis are employed and an ethical conclusion regarding this incident is reached. This is followed by a brief investigation of the perceived divergence of the ethical and legal perspectives. We conclude this paper by expressing the hope that this case study, and the analysis thereof, would assist South African computing instructors in sensitizing their students to computer ethics issues related to misinformation, the use of e-mail and the Internet.