List of All Hoax Emails

By: Robert Thomson Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Email has changed the way people communicate and has made it easier to send all types of correspondence, from personal notes to business memos. This acquired convenience however, comes with a price: security. Virtually anybody can create an email account and it is this anonymity that has given rise to a number of email hoaxes that continue to plague the World Wide Web.

The first in the list of all hoax Emails is the popular Chain Mail. Chain Mails are more annoying than they are dangerous and they are easy to create. They start with either a story or a quote, and end with a warning that if the user does not pass the mail to a number of friends, bad luck will befall them. Some chain mail comes with supposedly true accounts of what happened to people who did not heed the warning. Fortunately, other than it being a waste of time and inbox space, chain mail doesn't pose a serious threat to a user's security.

Virus Hoaxes also appear in people's inboxes quite often. The subject line for this type of hoax is usually deceiving, and once you open the mail, it will warn you that you have opened a virus, which will erase your files, take your personal information and crash your computer. Though some emails do have viruses in them in the form of attachments, viruses cannot enter a personâ€™s computer system by merely opening a message.

The first two in the list of email hoaxes merely employ scare tactics but the third, the Phising Scams, should be taken seriously. Hackers use Phising scams to obtain personal information like bank accounts and credit card numbers. Some scammers even create phony websites that resemble legitimate online sites, complete with real-looking images, menus and logos. An email sent to the intended victim contains a link that when clicked, leads to a page on the fake site, where they must share sensitive information in order to register or to update their accounts.

Lottery scams, though easily detected by mail filters, do end up in people's inboxes every now and then. The subject line is always catchy: the user has won a prize and must claim it immediately. Scammers claim that the user's email address has been entered in a lottery draw and they can claim their prize by contacting the authorized representative assigned to the raffle. This scam is harmless until the user replies, wherein the scammers then try to slowly draw as much personal information as they can by pretending they need documents as proof of identity.

The list of all hoax emails goes on, and new scams come out every day. From the bothersome spam mail, to the deceiving charity request email, spammers and scammers alike find new ways to take advantage of the unsuspecting public. While some hoaxes are practical jokes, others put people in danger of identity theft and robbery. To protect themselves, people must remain vigilant in the contents of their inboxes. They must always exercise caution when opening email attachments, and must always be suspicious of emails promising money with no strings attached. Eradicating email hoaxes may be impossible, but with caution, people can prevent becoming victims of it.

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