How to Verify Urban Legends and Email Scams with Snopes

Over the last couple of years there have been dozens of occasions where my mother has shared with me some dire information that she has learned from an email sent to her by a well-meaning friend. Nine times out of 10 the topic of the email message will turn out to be an urban legend.

Actually, now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure that only once has she brought me home a copy of an email warning that turned out to be true. Water can in fact explode in your face if you boil it in the microwave! Sure, it is extremely unlike to happen, and in fact it is only possible if you take the water out of the microwave and hold the cup just under your face, but it can happen.

Urban legends, however, tend to be quite harmless. Sure, they may be a bit of a pain, especially if you are post office employee drowning in millions of greeting cards sent to a kid who recovered from his terminal illness years ago, but hey, at least it keeps people employed! Email scams are an altogether different sort of employment however, the scammy thieving kind.

By now, lots of folks are familiar with the Nigerian email scams, but plenty of others still manage to fall for it, day after day. But letters from foreign dignateries and government lotteries are not the only thing to watch out for in your email.

Be wary of any emails purporting to be coming from places such as Paypal, Amazon, Ebay or your bank. Yes, these places will send you email. No, they will not ask you for your password or any information that can help them access your account.

For safety's sake, simply avoid clicking links in email messages and go and type the website address into your browser instead. Make sure you are running good and up-to-date virus protection software, or even better, run a complete security program on your computer that can prevent against phishing attempts as well.

Also, if it sounds weird, let's face it, it probably isn't true. Do us all a favor and check Snopes first before passing on any forwarded emails to your entire address book, okay? PLEASE! Thank you :)