Spotting the
latest email hoaxes may be easier than you think!
There are
thousands of email hoaxes moving around the Internet at any given time. Some may
be the latest email hoaxes around. Others may be mutated versions of hoax
messages that have travelled the Internet for years. These email hoaxes cover a
range of subject matter, including:
* Supposedly free
giveaways in exchange for forwarding emails.
* Bogus virus alerts.
*
False appeals to help sick children.
* Pointless petitions that lead nowhere
and accomplish nothing.
* Dire, and completely fictional, warnings about
products, companies, government policies or coming events.
The good news is
that, with a little bit of foreknowledge, email hoaxes are easy to detect.
Hidden within the colourful prose of your average email hoax often lurk telling
indicators of the email's veracity.
Probably the most
obvious of these indicators is a line such as "Send this email to everyone in
your address book". Hoax writers want their material to spread as far and as
fast as possible, so almost every hoax email will in some way exhort you to send
it to other people. Some email hoaxes take a more targeted approach and suggest
that you send the email to a specified number of people in order to collect a
prize or realize a benefit.
Another indicator
is that hoaxes tend not to provide checkable references to back up their
spurious claims. Genuine competitions, promotions, giveaways or charity drives
will usually provide a link to a company website or publication. Real virus
warnings are likely to include a link to a reputable virus information website.
Emails containing Government or company policy information are likely to include
references to checkable sources such as news articles, websites or other
publications.
A third indicator
is often the actual language used. Email hoax writers have a tendency to use an
emotive, "over-the-top" style of writing peppered with words and phrases such as
"Urgent", "Danger", "worst ever virus!!", "sign now before it's too late" and so
on, often rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS for added emphasis. Paragraphs
dripping with pathos speak of dying children; others "shout" with almost rabid
excitement about free air travel or mobile phones. As well, some email hoaxes
try to add credibility by using highly technical language.
Before
forwarding an email, ask yourself these questions:
1. Does the email
ask you to send it to a lot of other people?
2. Does the email fail to
provide confirmation sources?
3. Is the language used overly emotive or
highly technical?
A "yes" answer to
one or more of the above questions, should start some alarm bells ringing. These
indicators do not offer conclusive evidence that the email is a hoax but they
are certainly enough to warrant further investigation before you hit the
"Forward" Button.
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