What is a Virus/E-Mail Hoax?
Have you ever received an e-mail message that includes something like the following: • A warning of a new virus that you should send on to everyone you know. • A warning of a scam that you should send on to everyone you know. • A petition to help the needy or some cause that wants you to foward it on to those who might be interested. • A get-rich-quick scheme that claims if you forward on the message you’ll receive money for each time it’s forwarded. • A claim that for each email sent someone in need will be helped by another organization. These five scenarios account for almost all the virus and e-mail hoaxes you will see, and in almost all cases anything that follows any of these guidelines is a hoax, false, or an outdated petition that is just “floating” around the Internet. Before you consider forwarding any email that asks you to forward it to anyone else you should be able to do the following: • Verify the original date the message was created and sent. • Verify the original send
