Over the past few months I have seen a marked rise in the number of emails being forwarded about various things from the “next big virus” to how “Bill Gates is sharing his fortune”, I find that the large majority of them are simply hoxes but I am constantly asked by customers how they can tell whether an email they receive is legitimate, well this month we have help for you.
www.hoax-slayer.com and www.snopes.com are websites that aim to help you figure out whether the email you have received is legitimate or a hoax. Both of these websites will help you decide whether you should forward “that” email onto your friends to help them or whether you will just be worrying them for no good reason. So, what do you do?
When you receive an email claiming to warn you about the “next big virus” or some offer that seems unbelievable, simply go to one of the websites mentioned above and use the search function to look for words in the suspect emails subject line, you will be presented with a list of possible matches, just click on the one that matches your email and find out whether its legitimate or not – I bet its not!