Urban legends outlawed ... April Fools'!

Many of the people sending them are “just trying to be a good neighbor,” Orvis says. They have get a message with what seems like an important warning and it tells them to pass it on. “It’s so easy to forward e-mail that they just go ahead and do it,” he says.

Sometimes, the message has a kernel of truth to it, so the recipient thinks it’s legit and should be shared. And indeed, a small percentage of these mass e-mailings are true, but there’s no way to know unless you investigate.

Some blasts from the past
Ovris tells me the “Life Is Beautiful” hoax from five years ago is making a big comeback. The message warns about a non-existent e-mail with a PowerPoint presentation attachment called “life is beautiful.pps”:

If you receive it DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, and delete it immediately.

If you open this file, a message will appear on your screen saying: “It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful,” subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC and the person who sent it to you will gain access to your name, e-mail and password.

Audri Lanford at Scambusters.org says the “ATM PIN” hoax is another one that is making the rounds again. It advises if you are ever held up at an ATM and forced to withdraw cash, you should enter your PIN in reverse. The transaction will proceed normally, the message says, but the ATM will call the police.

“This could mean the difference between life and death,” it says. “Please pass this along to everyone possible.” Please don’t. This advice is wrong and could possibly wind up getting someone hurt in a hold-up.

If in doubt, don’t pass it on
There’s enough junk mailing flying around the Internet, tying up bandwidth and clogging in-bins. Don’t add to the problem. 

If the message says “forward this to everyone you know,” there’s a 99 percent chance it’s a fake. Check it out before you forward it to everyone in your address book. Go to one of the sites that track urban legends and myths. There a good chance they know about it.

Don’t believe a mass e-mailing just because it attributes its information to a police department, government agency or reputable news organization. Most of these bogus warnings cite reliable sources to build credibility.

Some of the messages now tell you “Snopes says this is real.” But that may not be true. The only way to know for sure is to go to the site and see for yourself. You may be surprised to find, as I have, that Snopes says the message is false.

If you get a myth e-mail that you feel is so amusing you want to share it with your friends, at least tell them something like, “This isn’t true, but it sure is funny, so I wanted you to see it.”

A final thought
I’ve noticed that when people forward these messages, they often include nearly everyone in their address book. I’ve seen literally hundreds of e-mail addresses in the “to” column. Some people on the list — and I include myself in this category — don’t want everyone else to have their e-mail address. This is poor netiquette. If you are going to forward one of these things to a huge number of people — and I hope you won’t — at least do it using the “bcc” box.

Checking out an e-mail:

• Snopes.com 
• Hoaxbuster.org
• Scambusters.org 
• 25 Hottest Urban Legends

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