Even When it’s Not “April Fools,” Don’t Believe Everything You Read!

 

The old adage really is good advice – especially with e-mails. If you have an e-mail account, you have received forwarded messages promising riches, discounts, improved health/body, free products, or even good luck (just for sending the message along to other poor saps). Some messages even claim to provide safety advice and helpful information. NOT EVEN ONE OF THEM IS TRUE.

 

If you forward a “safety” message, you are not going to save someone’s life or prevent a crime. Most of those e-mails are actually filled with inaccurate safety tips and based on fabricated crimes. As for the free stuff; if you forward the message, you will not get cash from Microsoft, you will not get free merchandise from Nike, or a free trip to Walt Disney World, or free clothing from the GAP, or a free car, or free cell phone, or free computers from IBM, or a gift certificate to any store. All you will get for your trouble is lost time.

In 1998, Bill Gates commented on unsolicited e-mails. He said, “Wasting somebody else's time strikes me as the height of rudeness. We have only so many hours, and none to waste.” I second his sentiments.

For whatever reason, we’re seeing an explosion of “chain” e-mails. Their only real purpose is to get passed around (and around) the Internet. Some could contain harmful computer viruses, but most are simply “junk mail” – also known as “Spam” in cyberspace.

 

There are several Internet sites that help debunk deceptive e-mails. Whenever I get a warning about a new theft ring targeting lone women, or a free offer, I go to the Urban Legends Reference Pages.  You can find the Web site at the link below.

 

In reference to all those easy windfalls – just by forwarding e-mail – Snopes.com says,

 

“The Bottom Line: No matter which incarnation of this silliness is received, the principle is the same: there's still no such thing as an e-mail tracking program that will keep a tally of how many times a message is forwarded and then report the results back to a central tabulator. And there's still no free lunch — big companies aren't going to hand out fabulous vacations, $1000 bills, free trendy clothes, new computers, cases of candies, wads of cash, or new cars just because someone with a functioning Internet connection does them the favor of forwarding an e-mail. Though at first blush, participating in such pie-in-the-sky wishfulness appears perfectly harmless, such participation only serves to clog up already overtaxed resources. Oh yes, it does one other thing — it gives the idjits [sic] who cooked up these frauds a great big laugh at your expense.”

The next time you get an e-mail that’s too good to be true, or one that sends you a “warning” you just can’t live without, remember, it is (with little to no exception) an urban legend. Some e-mails are funny or entertaining, but not true. So, do your part to be a responsible “netizen.” Please check out the facts before you forward the false information to others. 

 

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