Current Email Hoaxes - from HoaxSlayer

Hoax-Slayer Current Newsletter - Tip
reviewed by ClifNotes on 9/17/05

Notes

When I look at the garbage that gets into my email box, I get really aggravated (to put it nicely). There's one thing that's worse than spam and it's something that you can change. Don't forward hoax emails to other people, and don't put up with getting them from your friends. Now you ask, what is a hoax email, and how can I tell if it's a hoax? I'll fill you in on that in a minute.

My friend Brett runs a website called HoaxSlayer and it's a great place to find out what the current hoaxes are. It's not just about email. He has lots of advice about a wide range of hoaxes and scams that occur on the web. Here is Brett's advice on how to detect a hoax email.

Another way I detect hoaxes is as easy as using a search engine. For example, I type in the word hoax and after it I copied and pasted just a few words from one of the hoax emails below and entered it into a search engine, like Google. The words must be exactly in the order they appear in the email, and they should be in quotes as I show you below.

hoax "Emails with pictures of Osama"

In this example, the first search result was from Hoax-Slayer.com, which is Brett's site. If you followed the search result to Brett's site, he would tell you that it is a hoax.

Some of these hoaxes are so far fetched that I just can't understand how an intelligent person could believe them for a second.

In any case, always check a story out before you pass it along. I will tell you something I've found by experience. Ninety-nine out of a hundred email stories you receive are totally false or only partly true. When a friend sends me a story like this, I send it right back with proof that it's false. Then I give them a lecture about spreading hoax emails. This works for me. Now I rarely get them from people I know.

Quote

Emails are circulating that claim that Osama Bin Laden has been captured or has been found hanged. The information in these emails is false. Bin Laden has not been captured. ... The emails warn recipients about the danger of opening messages about Bin Laden. Although the danger is real, the warning messages are seriously exaggerated.
One of these warnings is included below: read more

Just now a message was received from the Israeli police:

Emails with pictures of Osama Bin-Laden hanged are being sent and the moment that you open these emails your computer will crash and you will not be able to fix it!!!

This e-mail is being distributed through countries around the globe, but mainly in the US and Israel.

Hoax-Slayer Humor read more

Subject: FW: ***WARNING*** TO ALL DOG OWNERS!

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