Hoaxes and Urban Legends

Every once in a while I get an email from a friend asking me if so-and-so is a real virus. I really appreciate those people who ask. Of course, not everyone can tell if a virus email warning is a hoax or if it is a real virus. Here are a few tips I have picked up over the years.

Obvious Hoaxes (examples only)

An email message warns of "impending doom" unless you email this to at least 120 friends
An email message promises you money from [company-x] for each friend to whom you forward the message.

There are no companies that will send you money for forwarding email messages, and there is no way for a company to track that kind of information. A lot of these are pretty much common sense hoaxes. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Not-So-Obvious Hoaxes

You can usually spot an email hoax if you look for a few signs:

Misspelled words
Incorrect use of English grammar
An email from [company-x] without an enclosed hyperlink to their website for additional information
Requests for money or donations to be sent to an address
Starts off with the words "This really happened to me" or "This is not a joke" - (Not always, but use caution here!)

The following link will take you to another website that contains much more information about hoaxes and urban legends.

Virus Hoax and Myth Information

Quick Links