12 July 2001

I've received an e-mail from a good friend telling me how I can make 200 US Dollars for forwarding an e-mail. Is this too good to be true?

Sadly yes, anything on the Internet that appears to be too good to be true is almost certainly false. This e-mail appears every few years with a different variation on the theme. Over the years companies that have been giving away money have included Microsoft, Nike, Disney, IBM, and Honda. There was even a free M&M's hoax mail.

Of course it is all nonsense, no-one is going to give you $200 US or a bag of lollies for your e-mail. By forwarding it all you doing is just clogging up people's mailboxes. When you receive these type of messages politely suggest the sender checks out the websites listed at the bottom of the page.

So why do people do this? Well hope and naievity are the reasons for these mails spreading. But often these hoaxes are a nasty trick to get someone deluged with e-mail, faxes and phone calls. The person who appears to be the original sender is actually the victim. By creating a hoax that includes the victim's contact details, the victim receives thousands of enquiries about the hoax for years to come.

Bill Gates says in his spray against this sort of mail, "we have only so many hours and none to waste," and this is certainly the case with Internet hoaxes. When you receive these hoax mails, bin them and politely suggest the sender reads some of the urban myths and hoax websites. Don't waste yours and other people's time with this junk.

Urban Myths Sites
Urban Myths
Urban Legends Reference Page

Virushoax sites.
Virus Myths
Datafellows