Information on E-mail Hoaxes
There is an e-mail message circulating out there that we see every so often describing in detail the story of a young aspiring actor in Australia that was badly beaten by a group of thugs and left with a horribly disfigured face. It goes on to describe how the young man tried to cope with life in his unfortunate state and after years of rejection and hardship, was given a second chance by a priest who arranged for him to meet with and be worked on by the best plastic surgeon in the country. After a wildly successful reconstructive effort by the surgeon, the man was again attractive and has gone on to fulfill his dreams beyond expectations. The final kicker, according to the letter, is that the story above is a telling of the youth of the acclaimed actor Mel Gibson.
Having seen more than a few hoax letters, we were hesitant to believe the story the first time we heard it so we did a little research. After less than 30 seconds on Google, we came across a site specializing in e-mail hoaxes that listed the letter and a properly researched rebuttal to the tale. It is a fantastic story and the e-mail describes it very well, however, it is not even close to the truth.
For about as long as the Internet has been in existence, information and misinformation has been transmitted from one user to another. E-mail hoaxes are a classic example of this. These hoaxes range from harmless letters like the one described above to virus warnings to scams such as the letter from a Nigerian businessman or wealthy heir that promises millions in exchange for a “business partnership” (for more information about this type of scam, please visit http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml).
Normally, these hoaxes are at worst an annoyance or a source of embarrassment, but sometimes there can be more tangible consequences. Fake virus warnings have successfully instructed people to delete necessary files on their computers by telling them that the file is virus and scam letters have duped users out of millions of dollars.
Fortunately, hoax letters are usually easy to spot if you are paying attention. They seem too fantastic or too horrible to be true, they lack good specific evidence and they often times are written by an indirect observer (ex. This happened to my friend’s sister). Also, hoax letters often times appear to have a grassroots type of motivation behind them and use the phony evidence to urge recipients to boycott goods or stores, vote a certain way or make some sort of lifestyle change. Finally, large portions of hoax letters are a type of chain letter and end in the same basic way: “NOW SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST!!”
If you suspect that you have received a hoax letter or if you merely want to read some sample hoax letters, there are a large number of sites you can go to. One good site we found is www.truthorfiction.com. On the site, you can use the search tool to find information on a specific letter or you can browse their catalogue of hoaxes going back to 1998. Here you can read many, sometimes very amusing letters about deadly spiders hiding under toilet seats in Chicago’s Blare airport (no such airport exists) or how children are starting satanic churches because of the Harry Potter books (a story that started as a fictional article in the humor/satire site theonion.com).
So next time you receive an e-mail about a serial killer that uses a $5 dollar bill to lure his victims or a surefire method of making thousands of dollars using PayPal, think twice before forwarding the letter to everyone in your address book and certainly don’t send anyone money or personal information.
