There are a lot of reports, usually in the form of e-mails, that sound like they could be true, but are not. If you get an e-mail or read a news report that you are at all unsure about, you should check one of the resources below to find out if you are dealing with a hoax or urban legend.
Many stories that sound like "news" are actually just rumors or "urban legends". Some are even true, but the suggested remedy, such as sending the e-mail on to everyone you know, is not a good idea and falls into the classification of "Junk" mail. About.com keeps a good list of current Internet Hoaxes, etc. They classify each one as SPECIAL (a real concern), a Hoax, an Urban Legend, a Rumor or Junk.
Typical hoaxes include a large percentage of computer viruses, chain letters, get rich quick schemes and appeals to send money. Some of these are jokes, but many are much more serious. Here are some examples:
- Blush spider found under toilet seats
- Cars without headlights on driven by gang members
- Microsoft will pay you to test their software
- Modem Tax hoax - despite the new Tax Freedom Act signed into law last Fall
- Pluperfect Virus or Strunkenwhite Virus - supposedly would block all e-mail with grammatical or spelling errors in it
- Pyramid schemes - people are asked to send money to those higher on the pyramid in promise of future riches
- Virgins that were going to give up their virginity in front of web cameras
The biggest problem with hoaxes is that anytime you send out dozens or hundreds of e-mails to your friends, you tend to clog up the system. If everyone does it at the same time, it can shut down the Internet. This recently happened when a virus infected a lot of PCs and automatically sent emails to everyone in their address books.
Here are some good links about Hoaxes & Urban Legends:
- Symantec's "Virus Encyclopedia"
- Urban Legends from About.com
- Darwin Awards' Urban Legends