Sympathy Hoaxes

Among the many hoaxes that are found on the internet, the sympathy hoax is by far one of the most sad and ridiculous hoaxes out there. The sympathy hoax ranges from missing children to pull tabs for charity. These hoaxes have one purpose, and that’s to be sent to everyone you know. Although the messages are usually untrue, some are actually real situations that have been resolved a long time ago. “Most of the hoax messages play on your need to help other people (www.hoaxbusters.org).” Who wouldn’t want to help a little girl who is dying from cancer, or pass on a missing children’s report to all your friends and family? From now on whenever these messages arrive in your e-mail, just delete them because they are more than likely to be untrue. If you feel guilty about deleting a message without checking to see if it’s true or not you can go to a few different websites listed below to check it out first:

* http://www.missingkids.org/
* http://www.wish.org/about/chain_letters
* http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp

Although the costs and risks of the sympathy hoax don’t seem to be high, the price can definitely add up when it is being sent to everyone you know. “No matter what the message may claim about the need for sympathy, goodwill, condemnation or action, if you can't verify that the message is true, its likely that someone is trying to make a fool of you (www.nonprofit.net).” So next time you come across a ridiculous sympathy e-mail, don’t be a fool, just delete it!

Works Cited
Don’t Spread That Hoax. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/
Hoaxbusters: Information About Hoaxes. Retrieved February 10, 2008
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxInfo.html#what