Check out these popular emails to discover whether they are true -- or just urban legends or hoaxes...
Internet ScamBusters Urban Legends and Hoaxes Resource Center lets you quickly find out whether popular (and usually 'urgent') emails are true -- or whether they are urban legends or hoaxes.
What -- Exactly -- are Urban Legends?
Urban legends are stories that are either funny and/or contain horrifying content that may or may not be true. They spread quickly, and often have many different variants.
Most urban legends are false -- but some are true.
Email urban legends and email hoaxes (which are what we focus on here) usually tell recipients to forward the email to everyone they know. In fact, that's one of the tell-tale signs that you have a false urban legend or hoax!
Below you'll find many of the most popular urban legends and hoaxes, so you
can discover if that "urgent" email is legitimate or not.
Popular Urban Legends and Email Hoaxes:
Abercrombie and Fitch
Al Gore and the Scriptures
Amazon.com and Anti-Semitism
Anna Cohen Letter
Are UPS Uniforms Being Bought by Terrorists?
Bananas: Are They Safe?
Bath and Body Works
Blush Spider
Celcom Screen Saver
Cicadas: Are They Really Vicious Killers -- and Can You Earn Money Collecting Them?
Coca Cola for a Month -- Free?
Cyanide Laced Deposit Envelopes
Does KFC Use Real Chickens?
Elf Bowling Virus
Email Tracking Software: RH Power Email Tracker (And Others)
Epilepsy: Will Your Forwarding an Email Save a Life?
Gang Initiations at the Gas Pumps
Gap Gift Certificates
Gas Prices and Gas Boycott
Honda Offers $1000
Inside Edition: The Special on the Epidemic of Abducted Women
Insuring Cigars?
Is AOL Instant Messenger Shutting Down?
Is Hotmail Shutting Down?
Is the Kali Virus Real?
Is the Mirror on the Wall in a Public Bathroom Actually a Two Way Mirror?
Janet Reno: Are You a Cultist??
Klingerman Virus
Lump of Coal
Make A Wish Foundation
McDonalds - Are There Really Hypodermic Needles in the Play Areas?
Microsoft AOL Email Beta Test
Microwave Oven and Water
Missing Children: Can Forwarding an Email Help the Search?
Needles on the Underside of Gas Pumps?
Newell Email
NPR: Will the Supreme Court Decision end the NEA?
Old Navy
Perfume Hoax?
Preven and Walmart
Rat Droppings
Sony Ericsson Free Phone
Spunkball Warning
The Man Without a Face
Tracking Email That's Forwarded
Victoria Secret Gift Certificate
Win a Nokia Cell Phone
Y2Kcount .exe Attachment: Microsoft Year 2000 Counter