Online Hoaxes

Hoax e-mails are a specialized type of spam and can come in many different forms. Some of the most common are:

• phishing
• virus hoaxes
• money transfer scams
• false promises of rewards for forwarding a message
• fake requests for help or sympathy and chain letters
• chain letters

In almost all cases, the best way to deal with hoax e-mails is to ignore them. Do not forward them, even to warn others that it is a hoax, as this can become as much of a problem as the hoax itself.

If you receive an e-mail that seems misleading or suspicious in any way (especially if it requests you to forward it to as many others as possible or seeks confidential information), check it out before forwarding it or following any instructions it might contain. A good place to go for information on e-mail hoaxes is the web site of the U.S. Department of Energy's CIAC HoaxBusters.

Phishing

Be particularly wary of the e-mail hoax known as phishing. These scams are e-mails that appear to come from legitimate companies, agencies, and organizations indicating problems with your account, credit card, or some other personal information. They may also lure you with the offer of free cash or other prizes. They will ask you to reply and validate your personal information (to “correct” their records), or direct you to a counterfeit site that appears identical to a legitimate site, where you'll be asked for your username and password and personal, financial and other confidential information that could lead to identity theft.

Don't ever reveal your personal information or card numbers on the Internet (or over the phone) unless you initiate the contact and know whom you are dealing with, and even then, be careful. If you receive a suspected phishing e-mail from a site you may have used before, or one you have an account with, do not click on the e-mail link. Either type the main website in by hand, or use a bookmark which you have stored previously. See the Phishing article for more information.

Virus Hoaxes

Sometimes warnings circulate around the Internet about nonexistent viruses and these can be troublesome because of the unnecessary network traffic they generate. Occasionally, a hoax virus can cause even more damage by instructing you to delete a normal system file, claiming that it is a virus that can't be detected by any antivirus program.

Hoax virus warnings normally arrive by e-mail, but can also be found on web pages. The warnings usually ask you to forward the message to as many people as possible, thereby propagating them. Before you add to the congestion on the Internet by sending out false virus warnings, or remove any files from your system, try to determine the warning's authenticity. Get more information on virus hoaxes from Network Associates, Symantec, and Clam Antivirus.

Money Transfer Scams

A more specific kind of scam e-mail is the “Advance Fee Fraud” or “419” scam. These come in the form of an e-mail apparently from an official representing a foreign company or government, looking for an overseas account into which they can transfer millions of dollars of money out of their country due to some change in the company or political turmoil. Needless to say, a legitimate government would not operate in such a manner. Eventually, the scammer will ask for advance fees to cover taxes or bank costs relating to transferring the money and often encourage the victim to travel overseas to complete the transaction. Visit 4-1-9 scams for more information.

False Promises of Rewards for Forwarding E-mail

Some e-mail hoaxes go into detail about prizes you can win for forwarding a message to everyone you know. The messages may refer to a newly developed e-mail tracking program and offer promises from the developer of big rewards if the message is received by a certain (large) number of people. These hoax messages appear to come from well-known large companies, but they do not. The best approach is to ignore and delete them.

Fake Requests For Help or Sympathy Letters

These hoaxes ask for help with a school project or for letters of sympathy, usually relating to an attempt to see how many different e-mail contacts someone can get, or how many different places around the world they can hear from. Sometimes the people and circumstances described in these messages are real, but the major problem with forwarding messages like these is that there is no way to stop them once the project is over or the problem is resolved. In many cases, even where the request is real, the people originally making the request are overwhelmed with responses and would really like to stop getting them.

Chain Letters

Traditional chain letters promise good luck if you forward them and threaten bad luck or other repercussions if you do not. Even forwarding them to a handful of people can lead to a relay of forwardings that can spiral out of control, resulting in huge numbers of these e-mail messages clogging networks and interfering with the delivery of more important messages. No matter how tempting the wish for good luck or fear of reprisals, keep in mind that chain letters may slow down more important Internet traffic.