How to determine Hoax emails, posts, etc.

It came to my attention this morning by the way of another one of the many hoaxes that go around and around the internet, that I needed to post about how anyone can find out if what you receive is truthful, or a down right hoax. I am speaking of posts, emails etc. that talk about some poor child and you need to sign to help them, and pass on, or about how to get something "free", some of the ones that you are emailed to sign a petition about something that sounds odd, etc.

Here is what you can do:

This morning I received an email about how to know if you have a "2 way mirror" in a room, like in a hotel, dressing room, public restroom. Well, at first I thought it was great information, then it dawned on me to do a search on Google just to see if I could verify the information. I immediately got a hit on "snopes.com" that this information is just another one of the hundreds that go around in emails especially that are plain hoaxes. We get an entire realm of these types of emails especially. People put them out there, then if we don't check we begin forwarding them to everyone in our address books. Well, that is what spammers want to us do. It ties up the internet with millions of emails going through, slows things down, and crashes some servers.

So, the next time you get an email, that talks about getting money, about something you think is really too good to be true, even those talking about some poor girl that is sick and you need to sign and forward etc... you can either Google it, or go directly to snopes.com and verify if it is legitimate or a plain hoax. There are many going around that are simply hoaxes. This will save you from sending around emails and wasting your time and your friends time, plus get rid of the lies that circle around the world online.

It is a huge issue, and if we are diligent about checking up on certain items, we can nip many of these falsehoods in the bud.

Rhia

Here is the URL:

http://www.snopes.com