Every so often I get an email from a friend warning me of the latest virus, asking me to sign a petition, or promising that if I forward the letter a certain number of times I'll get a coupon for a clothing store. Unfortunately, most of these messages are the result of an internet hoax. And the more of us that pass these messages on, the more credence we give them. More folks are familiar with the message, so it seems more real.
In one case (the Bonsai Kittens) I've actually seen activist groups go to work when their members encountered the hoax - first to combat what they thought was a real case of cruelty to animals and later to try to get the web site pulled off the net once they discovered it was a piece of sarcasm written by some students from MIT.
In another case, the hoax messages are part of an international fraud that started with snail mail and has more recently gone hi-tech. This particular case has duped innocent people out of millions of dollars, and when I checked into it I was told by investigators that it is about the third largest industry in Nigeria, where the scam originates!
Please do your part to stop the spread of internet hoaxes. When you get an email with a sob story asking you to forward the message or sign a petition & send it to your friends, or worse still a message that asks you to help rescue money caught in a coup d'état, think twice. In fact, think three times. Then check it out.
Top Internet Hoaxes
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