It is very commendable and a credit to our friendship when we warn each other of REAL dangers on the internet like scams, viruses, trojans, etc.

It's a blessing and a relief to be able to send out a plea for help to find a lost loved one, knowing that on the internet, the message can go viral very fast, reach smartphones everywhere, and quickly get the message out to potentially millions of people who can be looking for that person.

However, it is very important and our responsibility when we receive a warning ourselves to check it out before passing it on. There are quite a few hoaxes out there that tie up a lot of bandwidth and inbox space as well-meaning friends CC the warning to all their friends.

No matter how well-intentioned you may be, if you forward a hoax virus warning to all your friends, YOU are creating a BIG headache for a lot of people AND a problem almost as big as a REAL virus!

Here's what happens whenever you send out a warning to all your friends without checking it out first: Your friends and all their friends and all their friends, etc., etc., get all worried, forward this to all their friends, and then a lot of them swarm the AntiVirus sites desparately trying to find out how soon the companies are going to come up with a "cure" for the supposed virus.

The AV company has to deal with all the wasted bandwidth, frantic emails, and support requests coming in to their site about something that doesn't even exist!

Furthermore, the number of emails that get forwarded grow exponentially as everyone forwards it to their friends. If you think this doesn't matter, that's because you've never had to look after a server! If too much traffic tries to come to a server at one time, the server will shut down.

Trust me - I've had to fix this very problem before. It's a huge pain in the posterior.

To top it off, it these hoaxes, including the phony lost child, lost pet or blessing scams are a spammer's dream come true.

Here's what happens. Someone starts one of these "forward it to all your friends" emails. The vast majority of people who get them, thinking they are being Good Samaritans and helping somebody, simply hit the FORWARD link, choose everyone in their address book and then hit either CC or just SEND.

This is done over and over again as the email is repeatedly forwarded, and guess what happens? All the names and email addresses of everyone who ever receives the email are being forwarded to an ever widening pyramid of people everywhere in the world! This means that the chances of a spammer getting hold of all those names and email addresses increases exponentially every time the email is forwarded.

Have you ever wondered why there's so much spam? This is one of the big reasons. It's just so easy.

To top it off, you've also greatly risked someone getting hold of the list who loves to send REAL viruses and trojans while posing as one of your friends! Do not pass on warnings without checking the information out for yourself, first. You're not doing yourself or anyone else a favor if it's a hoax.

Additionally, use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) function in your email account if you're sending out any kind of bulk (more than a couple) email, including a real warning to all your friends. This hides all the other names and addresses.

How do you check to see if a warning is legitimate? Here are some links to bookmark. When you receive a warning, check it out first and if you don't find it listed at any of these sites as a hoax, only then pass on the warning. It's always a good idea to check with more than one site, as even the best ones make mistakes at times.

http://www.snopes.com

One of my biggest pet peeves is getting forwarded mail and when I see all the names I shake my head. I usually will write to the person who sends these things to me to take me off their scam/spam list and they always ask why I would say that and I let them know the dangers.

For the most part people are cool about being more careful with others peoples email..