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A hoax is an attempt to trick the receiver into believing that something false is real. Orson Well Mercury Theater radio broadcast in October 31, 1938, entitled “The War of the Worlds” has been called the “single greatest media hoax of all time”, though it was not intentionally so, and thus does not rank among genuine hoaxes. Hoax warnings are typically scare alerts started by malicious people and passed on by innocent users who think they are helping the community by spreading the warning. Do not forward hoax messages!

How to recognize a hoax?

You can recognize a hoax email because they not provide checkable references to back up their spurious claims; they usually don’t provide a link to a company website or publication.

You are forced to have an urgent point of view from only one side. The only purpose is to push you to send the hoax email forward before any critical decision. All in capital letters, many point of exclamation and a very dramatic language. It is obvious that someone is trying to make appeal at your emotions not at your discernment.

Email hoaxes are filling our email boxes as often as spam. Despite the spam, hoaxes are very different, but all have a common point: you must spread their content, forward the message to everyone you know. Most all of these messages are warning about Trojans, malicious software, free money, children in trouble. Hoaxes don’t infect like a virus or a Trojan, but are annoying and time consumer. It cost to recognize a hoax and remove it from all the system where they exist. Some times, you will spend more time debunking hoaxes than handling real virus and Trojan incidents.

Please disregard the hoax emails – they contain bogus warnings usually intent only on frightening or misleading users. The best action is to delete the hoax messages, beware of the promotion that sounds too good to be true.

Hoax writers will do everything to make you send their letters as fast as possible, as far as possible. Some hoax writers may suggest sending the email to a specified number of peoples; the hoax email writers are using an emotive language, a style of writing peppered with words and phrases such as danger, worst ever virus, danger. You can receive also emails about some sick child; other is offering free air travel or mobile phones.

You will feel interested, annoyed or intrigued and want to do something about it. Email hoaxes are conceived to engage your emotions and to motivate you to act. The only action you can take is to dispatch these stories with each name in your address book.

To be more credible, many hoaxes are using a highly technical language. It is difficult to check the story or the information. Generally, the email hoaxes seem effective. The idea is to oblige you to believe the story without seeking the facts. The tales about a conspiracy or references to a wonderful promotion are right a part of the use of hoaxers to discourage you to make a fast research about the facts. It is easy to do; you can make a search for some worlds.

Some hoax email will suggests a threat statement and diffuse the bad feeling that something unpleasant will happens. Health scare often will make you take decision expected by the hoax writer. You can be convinced that some shampoo or antiperspirant can produce cancer. Sometimes it’s just a prank. Sometimes it is a way to malign a particular firm or person in order to promote another.

When you receive an urgent virus warning message, be sure to check twice the message. Never open an email attachment unless you know what it is, even it is from someone you know and trust. Many viruses and Trojan began like hoax virus warning. Then somebody distributed it as a destructive Trojan.

Solutions against email hoaxes

The timing is never specified. A hoax will refer something which occurred “last week” or “recently”, but will not provide a date or a specific schedule. It must make information distorts to seem important and suitable for one indefinite period. A vague timing will ensure a long life to the hoax.Why endure such a nightmare? You can stop spam and phishing with ID AntiSpam and ID AntiPhishing software.

You can have a clean inbox blocking the spam, using ID AntiPhishing and ID AntiSpam software from ID Security Suite. That entire problem can be avoided blocking spam and phishing using it.

Every email hoax on internet exists because someone forwarded it to a friend, parent or colleague, and so on. To break the chain, use ID AntiSpam and ID AntiPhishing software. Make place to hoax busters, ID AntiSpam and ID AntiPhishing that will help you to not spread the hoaxes!

Using the ID AntiSpam and ID AntiPhishing you will be protected from unnecessary panic, stop chain letters; don’t play on people fear on bad luck.

Published: 18 Dec 2007  by Cristina Mailat, in: Security Tags: , , RSS feed for comments on this post.

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