Scams, Hoaxes, Myths and Their Busters - Comments Page 1

Another site I use is Truth or Fiction: https://www.truthorfiction.com/

I found it incredibly ironic to read this article and then at the bottom of the page see "Trending Topics on the Web" with gems like "Simple Discovery Regrows Hair Fast" and "How To Win the Lottery."

I receive these emails frequently from my friends. I always fact check them and send an email back asking them to please verify stuff before spreading misquotes & falsehoods. Doesn't appear to have any affect. I still get the same old crap.

I have found Snopes not to be very accurate for many things. They tend to be VERY political in orientation and tend to agree with the main stream media on many things.

Urban myths have been spreading for centuries. The internet just made I easier. Some will research, others will just believe anything they read and will not be deterred. We can only hope the investigators will outnumber the gullible.

I completely agree with the quote you have from Mr. Lincoln. Even back in 1853 he realized that some people will believe anything they read on the internet. Not me...

"Why can't they show a warning when a well-known hoax or urban legend is about to be sent or received?"
Who determines what is a "hoax" rating and what is not? Even Snopes has been accused of rating items incorrectly. I'm scared of even more censorship.

I think the Federal Government should step in and determine what we can read and what we can't read because they do such a good job at everything else. :o(

As always, a great article Bob. I too, discovered the Snopes site... probably about two years after it was launched. It quickly became one of my favorites, as more friends, family, neighbors (and other concerned e-mailers) got online... filling my Inbox with trivial nonsense. Everyone, it seemed, was clicking the Forward button and including ALL their contacts, before bothering to engage their brains.

At first, I simply ignored the baloney and didn't even Reply to it. But, apparently my lack of action somehow branded me as an easy mark and they doubled-up on their efforts to annoy me. So, I decided to put that automatic-Forwarding-reflex-action to good use. Through the years, each time I've gotten stuff like that, I insert a Snopes link to the debunking page for that specific bit of silliness into a Reply. In it, I ask them to "Please take a quick look at this and pass it back to those who sent it you. Also, just as I'm sure you appreciate not being misled, you'll want to send this with a retraction to all those you originally Forwarded it to. Of course in the future, if you receive things that smack of sensationalism, you might wanna take a moment to check the Snopes site before passing it along... if for no other reason than to save the embarrassment of having been taken-in."

Since my response is quick and consistent (and yes, my tone has a certain edginess to it), it doesn't take long before my Inbox is no longer being stalked by the same offenders. Additionally, if any of them commits the ultimate no-no by publishing my e-mail address on the C.C. line with others who can then easily see it, I'm not nearly so nice. Sharing e-mail addresses of anyone who hasn't given their permission to do so, is looking for trouble. For them, I include a short tutorial on using the B.C.C. line to keep e-mail addresses invisible to others and not potentially available for adding to spam lists. For me, this has worked well to diminish the problem considerably.

Doc - YOU have the skills - this might be your 'Million Dollar Baby' (to write the blocking program). but, with facebook, Alas and woe -- I supported a guy who let me put paragraphs into replies - and HE finally went under - not due to his 'crowd funding' (If you like and use this program send in a donation)kinda like PrivaZier - but because Facebook hassled him so much and changed the code so much, he couldn't keep up.

And yeah, so long ago his logo is now gone from my facebook page - what a handy tool - and WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!! Use a Paragraph to change ideas!

I fear for America when WE take a program for granted and grab it if it's free, even if we don't use it. I ALWAYS sent in a yearly 'use' fee for Spybot when it was simply a plain old small foot print program that worked VERY well. Ditto TinyURL (is that one even around any more? For awhile it quit working) -

AND to finish - Double Ditto In-Line-Scater above, HIDE EMAIL, IF YOU DO FORWARD DELETE ***ALL*** E-MAILS. It' not just polite, it's unseemly not to. And if only rules and laws about plagiarism and changing a post would put people on Darwin's List.

Don, I don't see anything like that on this page. Maybe you were at another site linked from this page.

Imagine that all the way back to 1853 Lincoln knew everything on the internet might not be true.

I also tried to no avail to "teach" my family and friends, about Hoaxes, SPAM, Urban Legends and how to be safe on the Internet. Most of my family listened and a few friends. The vast majority thought I was crazy for trying to warn them. I simply didn't see the "truth", as they knew it.

Today, I only get emails from the newsletters or articles I subscribe to. Most people use Facebook for their spreading of Hoaxes, SPAM, Urban Legends and the like. Social Media??? No, social spreading of some really, really bad stuff, that is mostly ignored by FB.

Oh, there are some awesome FB pages that are entertaining, truthful and interesting, I completely concur. It's that there are just as many bad FB pages, which has spoiled my wanting to participate in FB.

Today, I only check on FB about 2 or 3 times a month. I still find, that most of it is blah, blah, blah and some more. I do like hearing about family and a few friends, this is why I do check FB 2 or 3 times a month.

David. More to the point, how are you blocking the 'Trending Topics on the Web' at the bottom of Bobs page. I would love to not have this appear. I realise it is probably only there so Bob can get some revenue to help support him in producing his articles, but I don't actually want to look at it.

The way to tell that something is not a hoax is if it says "This is not a hoax" at the beginning ;-)

Excellent article Bob. Thanks for your diligence in writing interesting and informative articles and archiving them so they can easily be found. I consider the forwarding of salacious articles or information to be no better than gossiping and a great robber of precious time. I too gently share from Truth or Fiction or Snopes the voracity of the article and encourage the use of these sites before sending any other information. It never seems to make a difference but I do try to encourage people to speak and share things that are true, encouraging and of good report. It cannot hurt to try!

I used to get these things forwarded to me all the time. I tried asking politely that folks check the veracity of things before they hit "send", but to no avail. So, I went all Crazy School Teacher on them and started using "reply all" back with excerpts from Snopes and a pointed response about how little time I had for such silliness and how sure I was that all the other people the sender had included would want to know that the item was patently false. That, along with a final line stating that I did not expect to get any future emails that had not be "Snopes-checked" pretty much got me off all the lists.

Anytime anyone sends me hoaxes that they believe, I send them this link to a wonderful anti-hoax video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hD_zluGmQw

Hi Bob, I'm a great admirer of your most interesting and valuable blog and always enjoy reading it. BUT I must take exception to your campaign urging the authorities to intercept online "Nigerian" scams which are actually among the leading sources of amusement on the Internet, It really is inconceivable that anyone can do other than laugh at inane messages similar to the typical one I received yesterday and which I have copied below for your and your readers' entertainment. Not only is Mrs. McGuire's attempted scam ridiculous and far-fetched but as is typical of the genre, the structure of the email itself is a dead giveaway. It isn't even addressed to an individual by name and it originated not from Nigeria as it claims but from ther middle of the Pacific Ocean, domain .cx - Christmas Island! Bob, don't destroy what is one of the best ongoing comedies. Incidentally, I have a great collection of scam-mail. Maybe someday I'll publish.
___________________________________________

From: Mrs Ethel mcguire

ANTI-TERRORIST MONETARY,CYBER RESPONSE AND CRIMES DIVISION FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS J.EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING 935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535-0001

Our Ref: CBN /0N8/CONTRACT NO.856.
To. Beneficiary:

This is Agent Ethel McGuire and we are here in Nigeria as an FBI/UNITED NATION delegate that have been delegated to investigate these fraudsters who are in the business of swindling Foreigners that came for transaction in Nigeria .

Please be informed that during our investigation,we found out that there is a total sum amount of money $12.5 million that has been assigned in your name as the beneficiary and these fraudsters are busy swindling you without any hope of receiving your fund.

These are the works of the fraud stars who needed to extort money from you in the name of this transfer.We have to inform you that we have made some arrested in respect of this delayed over due fund. I have a very limited time to stay in Nigeria here so I advise you urgently respond to this message .

These criminals will be caught unaware and we don't want them to know this new development to avoid jeopardizing our investigation,you need to conceal anything that has to do with this exercise to enable us get all the necessary information we required.

I shall be expecting your swift response as soon as you receive this email.

Regards.
Agent Ethel McGuire
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION VISIT IN NIGERIA

I am always amazed that some senders, when shown that some reputable hoax buster site has debunked their lame facebook forward, immediately point out that the hoax buster site has been proven wrong. Their proof? The sender of the hoax has told them.

I have yet had "ANY" hoax debunked by any of major hoax busters proven true. To my knowledge, the only time that SNOPES was found in error, was a minor technical issue with a tiny part of their article. Every other challenge, when researched, proved to be someone protecting their beliefs against proven facts.

Howard says, "I have found Snopes not to be very accurate for many things. They tend to be VERY political in orientation and tend to agree with the main stream media on many things."

Can you give us an example, Howard, where Snopes is not very accurate?