By definition, spam is unwanted, unsolicited junk e-mail. Most of us think of spam as unwanted advertisements for things like prescription drugs and porn sites. While this is true, a big source of spam is “chain mail” and “hoax mail” that we unwittingly pass on to friends and relatives every day. Although the folks who forward these email messages on do so with good intentions, they are actually sending spam.

While some emails you receive are legitimate and should be passed on to those you care about, it’s important to know the difference between “honest” email and “junk”. Your friends and relatives will appreciate it!

E-Mail chain mail is a message that you receive from a friend, with the request to pass it on to others. Chain mail might consist of a cute little “quiz”, poem, or sweet story, and then tells you that your wish will come true if you forward it on to 10 friends. Although this type of email seems innocent, chain mail is considered spam – and most people don’t want it. Chain mail is also a great way to build up a mailing list.

Another popular type of spam is a hoax, also known as an urban legend. This type of e-mail is designed to scare us, and trick us into passing the message on to as many people as possible. Hoax mail usually appears to come from a credible source such as a government official, a security company, or even corporate executives.

Hoax mail usually tells a story of some bizarre robbery, virus, or life-threatening scam that is “sweeping the nation”, and serves as a warning. In some cases, hoax mail will encourage us to take some type of action as a “protective measure”. Sometimes we are advised to delete a certain file on our computer – which turns out to be an important system file that will crash your computer. We are encouraged to pass on this “warning message” to as many people as possible.

You probably receive at least one “chain mail” or “hoax mail” message each week, and if you’re like the majority of folks who get these, you unwittingly pass the message on to everyone you know (who in turn pass it on to everyone they know).

Eventually, the hoax or chain email will end up in the hands of a professional spammer, who will harvest all the email addresses that haven’t been erased during the repeated forwarding’s. Be sure to delete all the previous email addresses any time you forward email to friends. If you don’t you are helping someone build up a mailing list.

How to Check the Validity of Chain Mail or Hoax Mail

Fortunately, there are a couple of great websites that maintain databases of all the internet chain mail and hoaxes that are being passed around. When you receive one of these interesting emails, do yourself (and the friends on your e-mail distribution list) a favor and check the validity of the email before forwarding it on. I check out every email I receive and have not found a legitimate “warning” yet!

Following are good websites to use to check the validity of chain mail:

Break the Chain.org - This site contains a huge database of chain mail that has been past on for years and years. It contains everything from Nigerian money-laundering schemes to “your wish will come true” emails. Simply enter in the title of the email or a couple of key words and you will likely find a reference to the same email that’s sitting in your inbox. You will learn how long the chain e-mail has been in existence, and also see how it has been changed over the years.

Hoaxbusters - This is an excellent site that also contains a large database of common urban legends and internet hoaxes. It is maintained by the Computer Incident Advisory Capability, which is a division of the U.S. Department of Energy. Hoaxbusters contains information on just about every scam, legend, and frivolous warning that exists on the internet. There are several ways to search for the particular email you received, and I’ve found that entering the message title usually yields the quickest results.