CIAC, an office in the Department of Energy, calculates that a hoax can quickly reach a million people. Say you get an e-mail. You pass it on to 10 people in your address book. They, in turn, pass it on to ten people in their address books. By the 6^th generation, a million people have the message. By the 7^th, generation, 10 million. By the 8^th generation, 100 million. And I have 20 copies of it.

They further calculate that if everyone with e-mail access gets a copy of a message and spends a minute dealing with it, the cost in lost productivity could be as high as $40 million. At best, hoaxes waste time.

Hoaxes can harm reputable companies. Recent hoaxes include false warnings that a particular brand of crayon contains asbestos; that a kitchen scrubber contains Agent Orange, that waterproof sunscreen can cause blindness in children and that certain shampoos and antiperspirants cause cancer. Consumers are often worried and confused about what is safe and what isn’t; false rumors like these just feed the fear and harm reputable products.

This type of e-mail can harm personal reputations, too. Earlier this year a hoax was circulating that President Bush had the lowest IQ of any president in the past 50 years. I had about 10 people forward this to me, with great glee. I burst their bubble. It was a hoax. On the other side of the political fence, there were also hoaxes claiming that Bill Clinton ordered the murder of people who disagreed with him, and that Senator Hilary Clinton refused to meet with a delegation of Gold Star mothers. 

Computer security hoaxes harm your computer. Last April, a hoax surfaced claiming that a virus was embedding a dangerous file onto your computer — SULFNBK.EXE. I have that file on my computer, and I bet you do, too. It’s part of the Windows operating system, a mini-program that allows long file names. The e-mail maliciously advised you to delete this file. Many people did, and regretted it.

Many Americans are edgy right now, justifiably worried about terrorism, and cyber-terrorism. It’s hard to separate the true from the false. Some old hoaxes have been revived under new names. One is the Klingerman Virus, which warns against opening a blue package from the bogus “Klingerman Foundation” that may arrive in the mail. This hoax surfaced more than a year ago, long before we had a real need to worry about bioterrorism. With the current worry about the possibility of anthrax toxin, these hoaxes are cruel and perverted. 

A hoax that surfaced in early October is that terrorists are going to target shopping malls on Halloween. The message claims to have originated from a young woman with an Afghan boyfriend who disappeared, leaving her a note to this effect. Once you read it, it haunts you. Although I have shown friends of mine numerous references, including the New York Times, debunking this e-mail as a hoax, they are still cautious. It gets under your skin. 

I never thought I’d say this, but if there were to be a credible threat to our health, safety or national security, the mainstream press would report it. They’ve told me more about anthrax than I really want to know. If your only source of information is e-mail, odds are it’s a hoax. Some of these hoaxes are cloaking themselves in patriotic language. 

There are other hoaxes, scams and legends circulating. Some want your money. Some want your sympathy. Some think they’re funny. Many of them sound legitimate. Most of them are not.

If you receive an alarming e-mail, don’t panic. And don’t forward it until you check it out. Here are some Web sites that can help you separate the true from the false: 

• CIAC Hoaxbusters
• Hoaxbusters
• Urban Legends Reference Pages
• Symantec (makers of Norton Anti Virus)
• Hoaxes:
• Legitimate viruses
• Data Fellows
• Hoaxes: 
• Legitimate Viruses: 
• Urban Legends Aarchive
• McAfee
• Hoaxes: 
• Virus Alerts: 
• Vmyths