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Hoaxes

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Tips: What is a hoax? How do I keep from getting suckered?

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Understand hoaxes

Email hoaxes are messages that contain information that is mostly, if not completely, untrue. Like spam, they are quite annoying. Unlike spam, they are forwarded to us by friends and family. This is where the real problem lies.

We tend to believe what we read, especially if it is sent to us by someone we know. In addition, it is our nature to want to help others, especially our friends; so, we feel good when we pass on what seems like useful information. These factors, coupled with the ease at which we can forward a message to all of our friends, have caused email hoaxes to take on a life of their own.

Those who write hoaxes want the message to spread as quickly as possible to as many people as possible. Why? It might simply be for kicks to see how far their message goes. Or, perhaps the writer is using the hoax to attack an individual or organization, or to promote an idea. Whatever the reason, the goal is to spread the hoax far and wide.

Recognize hoaxes

The biggest tip off that an email is a hoax is when you are asked to "Forward this message to everyone you know", or "Send this message to five people and you will have good luck". Whatever the wording, if the intention is to motivate you to forward the message to others, it is most likely a hoax.

Know common types of hoaxes

There are many different types of hoaxes. Some are sympathy hoaxes that ask you to forward the message to others to help or comfort someone. Some are urban legends that contain frightening stories about things like HIV-tainted needles in theater seats, or businessmen waking up in tubs of ice with their kidneys missing. Some are written to provoke outrage, such as one that warns of pending legislation allowing the Post Office to charge 5 cents for every email sent.

Occasionally, hoaxes will develop as the result of an innocent misunderstanding about an issue. Some may have been true at one time. Partially true or not, once a message like this is out "in the wild" on the Internet, it is difficult to stop.

Look for hoax components

While the content can vary widely, hoaxes have some common attributes. There are generally three parts to a hoax: the Hook, the Threat, and the Request.

The Hook is usually found in the subject. It might be "Free Gift Certificates", "Dangerous New Virus", or simply "IMPORTANT: Please Read". The hook is designed to get your attention so that you will read the rest of the message.

The Threat is the specific hoax information. It is the lie or half-truth that is the main content of the hoax. To make people more likely to believe the threat, the hoax writer often uses technical jargon, and will sometimes make up an official sounding source. The threat is written to provoke an emotional reaction like fear, anger, sympathy, or greed, in order to make us more likely to act on the request.

The Request is what the email asks you to do. The hoax might be a chain letter that asks you to send a dollar to five people on a list. Or, it might instruct you to send a complaint to some organization, or simply to forward the message to your family and friends to inform them of the supposed threat.

Learn from your mistakes

Following are a few examples of specific hoaxes that make the rounds on the Internet from time to time. Perhaps you have been fooled by one or more of these. If so, you are not alone. The reason hoaxes are a problem is because so many people pass them on.

Virus Hoax example?SULFNBK.EXE

This email claims that you may already have a virus. It tells you to look for a file on your computer called SULFNBK.EXE, and even tells you where to find it. You are told to delete the file if you find it because it is supposedly a terrible virus that will wipe out all other files on your hard drive on a certain date. Many people were fooled by this hoax. They dutifully followed the instructions, found the file, and then deleted it. In an attempt to protect their friends, they also forwarded the message to everyone they knew (as the email requested). Unfortunately, the file SULFNBK.EXE is a normal component of the Windows operating system used to backup and restore long filenames, and finding it on your PC does not mean that it is a virus. A special note on Virus Hoaxes: We do not want our customers to ignore a valid virus warning from us or another reliable source. Here are some ways to determine if a virus warning is valid or a hoax:

What is the source of the email? If it came from your best friend's Aunt Bertha, who received it from her daughter, who got it from her husband's tennis pro's mechanic, who supposedly got it from a security expert at IBM, then it is probably a hoax.

Does the warning tell you to forward the message to everyone you know? A valid virus warning will not ask you to forward the message to others, since this is a known method for spreading virus hoaxes.

Does the warning refer you to a known security Web site?

Valid warnings will refer you to the web site of a well known security organization (such as cert.org) or an anti-virus company (such as McAfee or Symantic). The Web site referenced should contain specific information about the virus in question.

Religious Hoax example?FCC ban against religious broadcasting

Madalyn Murray O'Hair was a well known atheist who was instrumental in banning prayer from schools. This hoax claims that she has begun petitioning the FCC for a ban on religious broadcasting. The email sounds like it might be true, and even references a petition number. It requests that you send a letter to the FCC objecting to the ban and forward the message to all of your friends. Ms. O'Hair has been missing and presumed dead since 1995. The bill in question does not exist, and the FCC has had to deal with millions of letters from concerned citizens in the years since the hoax first surfaced.

Health Hoax example?Sodium lauryl sulfate

Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is a substance commonly found in shampoo and toothpaste. This hoax says that this chemical poses a significant cancer risk to users of those products. It suggests that you check your shampoo bottles and toothpaste, and requests that you forward the email to everyone you know. While it is true that SLS is an ingredient in quite a few shampoos and toothpastes (it helps produce foam), it has not been found to cause cancer.

Sympathy Hoax?A little girl is dying

This hoax is about a dying girl whose last wish is to tell the world to live life to the fullest. You are requested to forward a copy of the email to everyone you know to help achieve that goal, plus you are told that the American Cancer Society will donate 3 cents toward her treatment for every forwarded email. There is no little girl, no such program at the American Cancer Society, and no way for them to count the number of forwarded emails even if they wanted to contribute in such a way.

Crime Warning Hoax example?Poison perfume

This hoax surfaced just after September 11, 2001, and tells of seven women that have supposedly died from sniffing perfume samples they received in the mail. It also claims that the government is keeping the deaths under wraps so as not to panic the public. The hoax recommends throwing away any free samples of lotions, perfumes, and even diapers received through the mail. There have been no such deaths reported. The government has certainly not been reluctant to give out security information, issuing frequent warnings to keep the public alert since 9/11. Even if the government wanted to keep information like this from the public, it would be all but impossible if seven women had actually died in such a way.

There are many hoaxes similar to these, and once you see a few, you get pretty good at recognizing them.

Check to see if an email is a hoax

If you get an email that you think may be a hoax, there are Web sites like Snopes or Hoaxbusters where you can search for the subject or threat described in the email. If you do find that the message is a hoax, send the information back to the person who forwarded the email to you and make them aware of the hoax. They may be a little embarrassed for forwarding something untrue, but the more people who learn about hoaxes (and as a result do not forward them) the fewer we will all get.