Falling for Email Hoaxes and Urban Legends

(thanks to Dick Wolff formerly of Selkirk College Computing Services for the main inspiration for this)

Following are some websites that you should know about. If you are like me you get e-mail from people that forward messages such as, "you will get money if you forward this e-mail", or "you will be cursed with bad luck if you don't forward this e-mail", etc.  If you receive an e-mail that has be forwarded and re-forwarded, please check before you pass it on.

No one appreciates getting those types of e-mails because they're untrue and can make superstitious or religious people uncomfortable. (And can waste a lot of time and electrons!) There are a lot of urban legends and ridiculously false and deceptive e-mails out there. Be considerate about what types of e-mails you forward to others.. A few minutes of browsing these websites will educate you enough to identify what NOT to forward and about hoaxes.

http:/www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp
http://www.snopes.com/index.html

Real viruses  can also be researched from the Symantec site (the folks who make Norton Antivirus) or Mcafee site, just start from their main page.  The best advice is: Never NEVER pass on a virus "warning" no matter who it is from, until you check out whether it is real or not.  Like I said, most often it is just a hoax that gets passed on and on and on.

Cheers

L