This is a great resource for finding out if the e-mail you get is a hoax/myth.
When in doubt, check it out at www.snopes.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: update @ snopes. com <update@snopes.com>
Date: Jan 27, 2007 6:54 PM
Subject: Urban Legends Reference Pages Update #295

Hello again from snopes.com, where we shed light on the wild
tales you've heard!  This e-mail gives information about new
articles recently added to the Urban Legends Reference Pages
(http://www.snopes.com) and provides pointers to older pieces
about rumors and hoaxes still wandering into everyone's inboxes.
Our last update mailing was 20 January 2007.

If after this update you are left wondering about something
newly arrived in your inbox, our search engine stands ready to
assist you at http://www.snopes.com/search . Bookmark that URL
-- it's a keeper!

An RSS feed for our What's New page is available at
http://www.snopes.com/info/whatsnew.xml

And now, to the legends, the mayhem, and the misinformation!


New Articles
------------

Of hand sanitizers and alcohol poisoning in children.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/sanitizer.asp


Has the U.S. Internal Revenue Service relocated to Costa Rica?

http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/irsmove.asp


Alert for two teenage girls missing from their Maryland homes.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/missing/smithcrites.asp


Photograph shows Niagara Falls frozen in 1911.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/niagarafalls.asp


WARNING: Includes Somewhat Disturbing Image:  Document pictures
employee whose hands supposedly caught on fire when he lit a
cigarette after using a hand sanitizer product.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/purell.asp


Photograph shows man falling from a skyscraper while occupants
grasp at him through a window.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/accident/manfalling.asp


Worth a Second Look
-------------------

Long-believed claim asserts a greater number of women become
victims of domestic violence on Super Bowl Sunday than on any
other day of the year.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/statistics/superbowl.asp


Does the winner of the Super Bowl predict stock market trends
for the year?

http://www.snopes.com/crime/statistics/superbowl.asp


Of avocados and toilet flushes: a round-up of miscellaneous
Super Bowl legends.

http://www.snopes.com/sports/football/superbowl.asp


Still Haunting the Inbox
------------------------

Is Illinois Senator Barack Obama "ideologically Muslim"?

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp


No, entering one's PIN in reverse at any ATM will not summon
the police.

http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/pinalert.asp


2003's rumor about a large number of "missing" UPS uniforms
having been acquired by terrorists is back for another run.

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/upsuniforms.asp


The missing child alert about 13-year-old Ashley Flores of
Philadelphia is a hoax.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/missing/ashleyflores.asp


While it's true a consortium of wireless providers is planning
to create a 411 (directory assistance) service for cell phone
numbers, you need not register your cell phone with the national
"Do Not Call" directory to prevent your number from being
provided to telemarketers.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp


The Target Corporation's chain of retail stores has become
the subject of a number of e-mailed items, some true, some
not.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/targetindex.asp


The entreaty to aid 7-year-old Amy Bruce who is dying of
lung cancer and a brain tumor by forwarding an email and
a sappy poem titled "Slow Dance" is a hoax.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/medical/slowdance.asp


Yep, Ben Stein did deliver a commentary about the observance
of Christmas.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/benstein2.asp


There was no letter to Starbucks from coffee-seeking G.I.s
serving in Iraq, so no response from the coffee retailer
saying it didn't support the war and anyone in it.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp


No, parking lot carjackers have not been placing flyers on the
rear windshields of automobiles, then taking the cars when
drivers step out of their vehicles to remove the flyers.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/carjack.asp


On ways thieves could drain the value of the gift cards you
purchase and what you can do to foil that.

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/sales/giftcard.asp


E-mailed petition advocates buying/not buying gasoline from
Citgo.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/citgo.asp


E-mailed petition advocates denying social services to
immigrants.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/petition.asp


The jury is out on the rumor that Zicam use may cause loss of
the ability to smell.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/zicam.asp


Yep, a special one-time 2006 federal excise tax credit
rebates tax overpayment on phone bills.

http://www.snopes.com/business/taxes/excise.asp


The many uses of WD-40 spray lubricant.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/wd-40.asp


Your lipstick is safe to use - it does not contain lead.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/lipstick.asp


No, commentator Andy Rooney did not write the "I like big cars,
big boats..." polemic.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/rooney4.asp


Dialing #77 or *677 is not a surefire way of reaching the local
highway patrol -- the service is in place in some regions, but
not in others.  If in need of assistance, dial 911 instead for
the sure thing.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/fakecop.asp


No, Bill Gates is not sharing his fortune with everyone who
passes along a specific e-mail on his behalf. This tired
leg-pull continues to romp through everyone's inbox, the most
widespread incarnation swearing "This took two pages of the
Tuesday USA Today!"

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/billgate.asp
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/microsoft-aol.asp


Virus announcement and virus hoax e-mails are afoot! We try
to keep current on them and do our best to point readers to
authoritative links confirming or debunking them.

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/virus.asp


Fraud Afoot
-----------

Seems like everyone has become the recipient of mysterious
e-mails promising untold wealth if only one helps a wealthy
foreigner quietly move millions of dollars out of his country.
The venerable Nigerian scam has discovered the goldmine that
is the Internet.  Beware -- there's still no such thing as
1"something for nothing," and the contents of your bank account
will end up with these wily foreigners if you fall in with this.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/nigeria.asp


Likewise, look out for mailings announcing you've won a foreign
lottery you don't recall entering.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/lottery.asp


Or that because you share the surname of a wealthy person who
died without leaving a will you're in line for a windfall
inheritance.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/inherit.asp


And be especially wary if, while trying to sell or rent
anything online (car, boat, horse, motorcyle, painting,
apartment, you name it) you're approached by a prospective
buyer who wants to pay with a cashier check made out for an
amount in excess of the agreed-upon price and who asks the
balance be sent to a third party.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/cashier.asp


Aspiring work-at-homers promised big bucks for acting as
intermediaries for international transactions wherein they
cash checks for other parties or reship goods to them have
been defrauded by con artists.  Don't you be next.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/reshipper.asp


If someone telephones to announce you can have a $200 Wal-Mart
shopping spree or $200 in gasoline coupons in return for a
$3.49 processing charge to be debited directly from your bank
account, hang up.  You're being set up via the promise of
"something for almost nothing" into authorizing a swindler to
help himself to the contents of your bank account.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/gascoupon.asp
http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/walmart.asp


If someone calls to announce you've failed to appear for jury
duty and will be arrested, do not give the caller your personal
and financial information in an effort to prove he's sending
the gendarmes after the wrong guy.  You're being tricked into
giving up this information to an identity thief.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp


Admin Stuff
-----------

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and our 25 Hottest Urban Legends page at
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inbox.

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