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There is a whole host of annoying hoaxes that circulate by email and encourage you to pass them on to other people.
How do you spot if something is a hoax? Most hoaxes have a similar pattern.
These are some common examples to illustrate the language used:
- Dire warnings about the latest non-existent virus dressed up with impressive but nonsensical technical
language such as "nth-complexity binary loops". They prey on worry about technology and fear of
problems with your computer.
- Pleas to send postcards to Craig Shergold, 7 years old, dying of cancer. This one was true many years ago.
Now Craig is fully recovered, grown up and the hospital receives sackfuls of unwanted postcards every day.
Similar chain letters may have no foundation in truth at all, but are cynically designed to tug at the
heartstrings.
- Promises that Bill Gates will donate money to charity for each email forwarded.
Think about it: how would he even know whether you forward the message
on? An instruction to forward it on is a sure sign of a hoax. Hoaxes
rely on people forwarding them to survive. Genuine authorities and organizations
have other ways to get the message across.
- Threats of terrible consequences if you ignore the warning or bad luck if you break the chain.
Another attempt to persuade people to forward it.
In general, be wary of anything that says "forward this to everyone you know!" and think twice before
doing so. You might just be making a fool of yourself. If in doubt, check. The following sites provide information
on known hoaxes:
Chain Letters and Advance Fee Fraud
There are two particularly common attempts to con you out of money.
Pyramid schemes go along the lines of "send ten dollars to this address and add yourself to the bottom of the
list. In six weeks you'll be a millionaire!". They don't work. If you use the US Postal Service, it's illegal.
And you certainly won't makes any money from them.
Advance fee fraud, also known as Nigerian fraud or 419 fraud, is a particularly
dangerous con operated by organized criminals. It takes the form of an
email claiming to be from a businessman or government official, normally
in a West African state, who supposedly has millions of dollars obtained
from the corrupt regime and would like your help in getting it out of
the country. In return for depositing the money in your bank account you
are promised a large chunk of it.
How does the con work? The basic trick is that after you reply and start talking to the fraudsters they
eventually ask you for a large sum of money up front in order to get an even larger sum later.
You pay, they disappear, and you lose.
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