IJL Web Solutions are committed to advising and helping our clients, colleagues, friends and associates in any way we can - as our business is based around building long-term relationships, not 'hit-and-run' tactics.


We are often included in emails which are either spam, hoaxes or other forms of fraud/deception/nuisances etc, and this page is provided to offer advice on what to look out for in spotting the genuine from the 'false'.

There are many hundreds of hoaxes sent around the world at any one time, and so it is very easy to be caught out.

If you receive any such emails, it is always best to research fully the claims made, before forwarding them on to anyone else.



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So how do you know if an email is a hoax or scam?

Probably the most obvious indicator is a line such as "Send this email to everyone in your address book".
Hoax writers want their material to spread as far and as fast as possible, so almost every hoax email will in some way exhort you to send it to other people.

Some email hoaxes take a more targeted approach and suggest that you send the email to a specified number of people in order to collect a prize or realize a benefit.

Another giveaway is that hoaxes tend not to provide checkable references to back up their spurious claims. Genuine competitions, promotions, giveaways or charity drives will usually provide a link to a company website or publication.

Real virus warnings are likely to include a link to a reputable virus information website. Emails containing Government or company policy information are likely to include references to checkable sources such as news articles, websites or other publications.

Another indicator is often the actual language used. Email hoax writers have a tendency to use an emotive, "over-the-top" style of writing peppered with words and phrases such as "Urgent", "Danger", "worst ever virus!!", "sign now before it's too late" and so on, often rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS for added emphasis.

Paragraphs dripping with pathos speak of dying children; others "shout" with almost rabid excitement about free air travel or mobile phones. As well, some email hoaxes try to add credibility by using highly technical language.

So before forwarding an email, asks yourself these questions:

   Does the email ask you to send it to a lot of other people?
   Does the email fail to provide confirmation sources?
   Is the language used overly emotive or highly technical?

If you can answer 'yes' to one or more of the above questions, should start some alarm bells ringing.

These indicators do not offer conclusive evidence that the email is a hoax but they are certainly enough to warrant further investigation before you hit the "Forward" Button.

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Virus or not?
There are a lot of viruses out there, but some aren't really out there at all.
Virus hoaxes are more than mere annoyances, as they may lead some users to routinely ignore all virus warning messages, leaving them vulnerable to a genuine, destructive virus.

If you receive an urgent virus warning message, that has come from a friend or collegue and not from your anti-virus supplier, be sure to search using google or check against a list of known virus hoaxes before forwarding these and perpetuating them.

There are many such businesses, such as those available from the two main Internet Security companies Symantec or McAfee. Both have sections where you can search for known hoaxes viruses (try www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html or http://vil.nai.com/vil/hoaxes.asp for example).

Alternatively, try one of the many Hoax listing websites out there, for example Hoaxbusters (http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/) or The Museum of Hoaxes (http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/)

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Forwarding on
One final word of advice - if you do forward something (a good joke for example), use the BCC field (Blind Carbon Copy), this ensures that the recipient can't see all the other recipients, because although you may know all your recipients, these emails tend to get forwarded around many times, and you (and your friends) can easily end up on an spammers mail list.

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