Email hoaxes or spoof emails come to us all the time in the guise of special giveaways or strange urban myths.

If you have been regularly using email you have seen a few of these hoaxes with subject lines like Bonsai Kitten, WTC Survivor, or Free Applebees Gift Card.

Hoaxbusters documents the growing number of hoaxes — how about 13 categories of email hoaxes:

• Malicious Code Warnings
• Urban Myths
• Give Aways
• Inconsequential Warnings
• Sympathy Letters/Requests for Help
• Traditional Chain Letters
• Scam Chains
• Scare Chains
• Jokes
• True Legends
• Hacked History
• Unknown Origins

An organization called the Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC) has been providing the U.S. Department of Energy with computer security support since 1989. CIAC was developed to monitor computer incidents that could affect nationally important systems. CIAC notifies everyone about the current threats that are out there on the Internet via the Hoaxbusters website.

Hoaxes and chain letters typically urge you to forward their message to everyone you know. Well, just how slow do you think the Internet would become if everyone complied with the instructions to send to all?

Hoaxbusters urges everyone to refrain from spreading chain letters and hoaxes by sending copies to everyone you know. I couldn’t agree more! Here is CIAC’s advice that we all should heed:

Sending a copy of a cute message to one or two friends is not a problem but sending an unconfirmed warning or plea to everyone you know with the request that they also send it to everyone they know simply adds to the clutter already filling our mailboxes.

So, don’t be tempted to forward emails to everyone in your address book. Check the Hoaxbusters website to see if your urgent message is really a hoax. Then take CIAC’s advice and just delete it.

If you happen to be the recipient of an email hoax letter sent by a friend, please send them back here or to the Hoaxbusters site. An educated friend is one worth keeping!

Sophos lists the top ten latest and most prevalent hoaxes.

Another great site that stops the rumor mill is Snopes. Rumors are so numerous that Snopes uses 45 categories to describe them all! Since these rumors are spread via email, check out Snopes list of the 25 Hottest Urban Legends to see if you recognize any. I would bet that you have seen at least one or two of these gems…Urban Myths and Give Away Hoaxes.

The Give Away Hoaxes seem particularly popular and one is reminded of P.T. Barnum’s phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute!” Hate to disappoint ya, but Bill Gates is not giving away his billions in a software testing scheme, nor is the Gap clothing store going to provide you with their latest fashions just for sending along their message. If it seems too good to be true, then you know you should not forward that email message!