How to spot an Email Hoax - Guide to Recognizing Hoaxes
Spotting an email hoax may be easier than you think!
There are thousands of email hoaxes moving around the Internet at
any given time. 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 giveaway 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, asks yourself
these questions:
- Does the email ask you to send it to a lot of other people?
- Does the email fail to provide confirmation sources?
- 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.
Article by Brett M. Christensen
