The Top 9 e-mail Hoaxes
Income taxes
are optional; Neiman Marcus has an expensive cookie recipe and more financial
fictions that crowd in-boxes. These e-mail hoaxes are designed for one thing: to
drain your wallet.
By Amy
C. Fleitas, Bankrate.com
Ever wondered if anyone makes the money promised in those work-at-home
advertisements? Or if each forwarded e-mail will really mean a donation of 10
cents from Microsoft to an orphan's organ-transplant operation? The answer is
no. These stories are urban legends, e-mail rumors and scams. They are but a few
of what we like to call financial fiction. The following are some of the most
popular and most creative examples waiting in in-boxes.
Neiman Marcus' expensive cookie recipe
Here's what happened. My Aunt Cynthia was having lunch at Neiman Marcus with my
cousin. For dessert, they had these delicious cookies and my aunt asked the
waitress for the recipe. The waitress said they the recipe sold for "two fifty."
My Aunt thought that meant $2.50 said OK. But when she got her bill they charged
her $250. She was furious but they wouldn't refund her money. So in revenge,
she's giving away the recipe to anyone who wants it.
Can you believe that? You can? Sucker. It never happened. But this rumor has
been circulating for decades. A similar story about a $25 red velvet cake recipe
has been traced as far back as the 1940s. If you want the cookie recipe, Neiman
Marcus has gotten so sick of the bad press about this false rumor that the
company posted the recipe on its Web site.
Forwarded e-mail for money or donations
Microsoft and Disney are both beta-testing an e-mail tracker and will send you
money if you forward this e-mail. The Gap is testing an e-mail tracker and will
send you a gift certificate. The Red Cross is using its e-mail tracker and will
donate money for some poor kid's operation or to raise funds for an orphan of
Sept. 11.
If you believe any of these stories, I have some bad news for you. There is no
such thing as an e-mail tracker. Coke won't send you free cans. Gerber won't
send you savings bonds. Cracker Barrel won't send you gift certificates. A
Britney Spears' video won't pop up as the result of you forwarding an e-mail.
And AOL has a public relations department that gets news out a lot more
efficiently than any chain mail ever could. You get nothing but the
embarrassment of knowing that everyone you forward this e-mail to will think
you're a fool.
Nigerian scam letter
Greetings, sir. I got your e-mail address from a very confidential source -- the
Internet. I am the prince, minister and Grand Poo-ba of one of many foreign
nations that you stupid Americans have never heard of. There is a billion,
kazillion dollars in an account here that rightfully belongs to my family and my
people. Due to some horrid-bloody military coup in which my entire family,
several accountants and various goats lost their lives, I cannot reach this
money. But you, an American who has never heard of my country, can march right
into the corner branch of God-Forsaken-War-Torn-East-of-Nowhere-Africa and
deposit this money right into your fat American bank account. For your trouble,
I'll give you a few million off the top -- because what's a few million between
confidential best friends who have never actually even heard of one another?
OK, let's start from the top. Do not kid yourself. You are not so important that
the High Priest of Anywhere will e-mail you requesting help. Rid yourself of
your delusions of grandeur -- or as we say back home, you may sing "Like a
Virgin" into your hairbrush every night, but that doesn't make you Madonna.
Here's what will happen when you give strangers your bank account information:
They will take your money. Period. End of story. You get nothing, but you lose a
lot.
Work at home
Old scam, new format. You should immediately run from anyone who promises lots
of money for little work that requires no experience. While there are companies
that allow their employees to work from home, they require job skills and
interviews, just like regular jobs. Work-at-home scams will ask you to purchase
supplies and equipment from them to perform the "job." That's how they make
their money. You will lose -- not make -- money.
You won! And you didn't even enter!
How can you take anything seriously that uses so many exclamation marks?!!!!!
Guess what!!!!! You didn't win anything!!!! These people will try to finagle
money out of you by saying you need to pay taxes or fees to collect your
prize!!!!! Or they will give you a free trip that requires you to buy very
expensive airline tickets through their agency!!!! Don't be a sucker!!!!!
You'll receive $5,000 for sending $25
Here's how it works. Send $5 to the five people on the list or to the address
that will send you the "reports." In return for your money you'll get -- nothing
-- because this is a scam. Well, maybe you'll get something -- a conviction for
mail fraud because this is illegal.
Tricking the traffic court
The Web-watching site Truthorfiction.com reports that a rumor is currently
circling e-mails accounts claiming that there's a sneaky way to keep a traffic
ticket off your driving record: pay a little more than the amount on the ticket.
The court will send you a refund check. If you don't cash the check, the
computer won't mark your case as closed and the ticket will never show up on
your record. This idea is great in theory, lousy in reality. It doesn't work.
Here's a way to keep tickets off your record that does work: slow down.
Tax or long-distance charges on e-mail
You got a forwarded e-mail from your friend that says you will soon be charged
for your long-distance e-mails, just like you are charged for long-distance
phone calls. Oh, really? And what will the phone company use to compute your
bill -- its e-mail tracker? Calm down. No one is going to charge you long
distance for your e-mails. This is an e-mail myth.
Clinton got rid of the IRS -- no more taxes
That sneaky Bill Clinton -- did you know that when he wasn't gallivanting about
with interns he was busy getting Congress to pass secret legislation that would
forgive all debts and abolish the Internal Revenue Service? Alan Greenspan was
going to announce it on Sept. 11, 2001 but didn't because of the terrorist
attacks. Oh, wishful thinking -- or maybe not. A move like that is the
equivalent of tossing what's left of our economy into a vast financial toilet
and flushing with the combined might of the National Football League. In the
plausible department, this rumor, reported by Truthorfiction.com, is right up
there with alien cattle mutilations and Cameron Diaz spending a Friday night
alone at home, eating Ben & Jerry's because she couldn't get a date --
completely ridiculous.