An Example

The following email is circulating the internet this summer.

THIS TOOK TWO PAGES OF THE TUESDAY USA TODAY - IT IS FOR REAL

Subject: PLEEEEEEASE READ!!!! it was on the news!

!!!! It was on the news! Kathy South Alcoa - EHS Maintenance Coordinator Phone: 765/771 - 3547 Pager : 765/420 - 6575

To all of my friends, I do not usually forward messages, But this is from my good friend Pearlas Sandborn and she really is an attorney.

If she says that this will work - It will work. After all, What have you got to lose? SORRY EVERYBODY.. JUST HAD TO TAKE THE CHANCE!!! I'm an attorney, And I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assured AOL and Intel will follow through with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class action suit similar to the one filed by PepsiCo against General Electric not too long ago.

Dear Friends; Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it ( If you are a Microsoft Windows user) For a two weeks time period.

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a check.

Some people will send these emails to all their friends....

These people probably see them as mysteries. They wonder if they are true or not, and they think, "What have I got to lose? Maybe it's true, maybe not, but I don't know how to figure it out (or don't care), so I'll send it on, JUST IN CASE."

Some people will delete the email and assume it is a scam....

They probably have already learned "you don't get something for nothing." Now, the mystery may still exist, but words like "take the chance," "will follow through with promises," do not convince them. They may wonder just a little, but think it’s a scam. They delete it. They may say that they know "for a fact" that it's a scam, but they do not have factual evidence, nor know how to find it. It is their opinion it is a scam.

Some people will delete it because they know for a fact it's a scam

They may have gotten it before. They may have researched it, and found that the letter, in various forms, has been around since November of 1997. Through research, they know that if a new email comes in, one that may look better, they have the tools to locate the evidence to prove whether it is true or not.

These individuals also know that there is something to lose by emailing it out to friends. By doing so, they become spammers, littering the internet with unnecessary junk that slows connections speeds for everyone. They also appear as ignorant to those who do know the facts.

The "proof" for this one is at the Urban Legends Reference Site.