The next time that you receive an alarming e-mail calling you to action, look for one or more of these five telltale characteristics before even thinking about sending it along to anybody else.
 
URGENT
The e-mail will have a great sense of urgency! You'll usually see a lot of exclamation points and capitalization. The subject line will typically be something like:

URGENT!!!!!!
WARNING!!!!!!
IMPORTANT!!!!!!
VIRUS ALERT!!!!!!

TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS
There will always be a request that you share this "important" warning by forwarding the message to everybody in your e-mail address book or to as many people as you possibly can. This is a surefire sign that the message is a hoax.
 
THIS ISN'T A HOAX
The body of the e-mail will contain some form of corroboration, such as a pseudoquote from an executive of a major corporation or from a government agency official.
 
Sometimes the message will include a sincere-sounding premise. For example:

My neighbor, who works for Microsoft, just received this warning so I know it's true. He asked me to pass this along to as many people as I can.

It's all a bunch of baloney. Don't believe it for a second.
 
Watch for e-mails containing a subtle form of self-corroboration. Statements such as "This is serious!" or "This is not a hoax!" can be deceiving. Just because somebody says it's not a hoax doesn't make it so.
 
DIRE CONSEQUENCES
The e-mail text will predict dire (but impossible) consequences if you don't act immediately. The message may inform you that the virus will destroy your hard drive, kill your houseplants, or cause green fuzzy things to grow in your refrigerator.
 
HISTORY
Look for a lot of >>>> marks in the left margin. These marks indicate that people suckered by the hoax have forwarded the message countless times before it has reached you.
 
In her book, Cyberliteracy, Laura Gurak identified three parts to hoax and urban legend e-mail chain letters. They are the hook, the threat, and the request. To hook you in, an e-mail hoax will play on your greed, your sympathy, or your concern for your loved ones' safety. It will threaten you with bad luck, play on your guilt, or label you a fool for not participating. And, of course, it will request that you forward it to all of your friends and family.
 
The hook catches your interest to make you read the whole e-mail. The hook may be a sad story about someone's dying wish. When you're hooked, the threat warns you about the terrible things that will happen if you don't keep the chain going. The threat may be that someone will die if you don't respond. Last is the request. It will implore you to send the message to as many others as possible and/or send a donation to a group with a legitimate-sounding name.
 
Now It's Time to Play:
 
Spot the Hoax 
The following are actual virus hoax e-mails. Thousands of people have forwarded the "Budweiser Frogs" and "Virtual Card for You" hoaxes to millions of Internet users, keeping them in circulation for years. See how many of the five hoax signs you can spot! Look for the hook, threat and request.
 
>>>
>>>Subject: READ IMMEDIATELY AND PASS ON!
>>>
>>>Someone is sending out a very cute screensaver of the Budweiser
>>>Frogs. If you download it, you will lose everything! Your hard drive
>>>will crash and someone from the Internet will get your screen name
>>>and password!
>>>
>>>DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!
>>>
>>>It just went into circulation yesterday. Please distribute this
>>>message. This is a new, very malicious virus and not many people
>>>know about it.
>>>
>>>This information was announced yesterday morning from Microsoft.
>>>Please share it with everyone that might access the Internet.
>>>
>>>Once again, pass this along to EVERYONE in your address book
>>>so that this may be stopped. AOL has said that this is a very
>>>dangerous virus and that there is NO remedy for it at this time.
>>>
 
*****************************************************
 
>>>
>>>VIRUS WARNING TO ALL INTERNET USERS:
>>>
>>>A new virus has just been discovered that has been classified by
>>>Microsoft as the most destructive ever. This virus was discovered
>>>yesterday afternoon by McAfee. This virus simply destroys Sector
>>>Zero from the hard disk where vital information for its
>>>functioning are stored.
>>>
>>>This virus acts in the following manner: It sends itself
>>>automatically to all contacts on your list with the title: "A
>>>Card for You".
>>>
>>>As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened the computer
>>>freezes so that the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+del
>>>keys or the reset button are pressed, the virus destroys Sector
>>>Zero, thus permanently destroying the hard disk. Yesterday in
>>>just a few hours this virus caused panic in New York, according
>>>to news broadcast by CNN.
>>>
>>>This alert was received by an employee of Microsoft itself. So
>>>don't open any mails with subject: "A Virtual Card for You." As
>>>soon as you get the mail, delete it, even if you know the sender.
>>>
>>>Please forward this to everyone in your address book. I'm sure
>>>most people, like myself, would rather receive this notice 25
>>>times than not at all.
>>>
 
NOTE: It is possible that you may receive a virus hoax e-mail with an attached file. Such file attachments should be treated with caution, and we recommend practicing SAFE COMPUTING.