The first hoax and funny enough I somewhat believed when it made headlines and stuff, I think there was topic on the forums but not to sure, is the Raise Bonsai Kittens in Bottles. Put it like this it got so bad because of what it was about that the FBI got involved to see if it was legit or not. Of course it wasn't.
The next hoax is the Sign a Petition to Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide and although I never saw a single email or website about this hoax I will say that it was pretty ingenious how people got suckered into this. By the way Dihydrogen Monoxide is water.
The next hoax I am not to familiar, although, cell phone hoaxes have been around for awhile is the Extreme Technophobia: Pop Popcorn With Cell Phones in which the radiation from a cell phone can pop popcorn, obvious it is untrue because if a cellphone could produce that kind of heat/radiation, cell phone users would dropping like flies. Well, unlikely but still.
The next one that I know everyone is well aware of, I think I got a few emails back in the day, is the Bill Gates Wants to Give You Money hoax, in which you were do something like send this to other people or download something and Microsoft would track it and give you money, Microsoft is are such spammers
.The next hoax I am vaugely familiar with since this was another old one and that being the Launch a Nuclear Strike From Your PC email. Basically an email got sent out that Symantec is warning people to look for a virus that launches nukes, blah blah blah. Of course in this day in age we can tell the difference between a fake virus and a real one.
The next one I don't call a hoax since it is a scam in itself is the Hello, "My Name is Mr. Paul Agabi, a Lawyer in Nigeria--Can You Help Me?" Basically its one of the various Nigerian scams or 419 scams that almost everyone is done and sadly almost everyone is falling for.
Although I never received this email Video: Watch Angelina Jolie's Lips Explode! I have gotten its various offspring which basically is a attachment that is booby trapped plain and simple.
Also people are wasting time by creating new ones such as the Work Virus, funny as it maybe it is just a waste of resources and time. No wonder I stopped using their products.
QUOTE
Though an obvious joke, the Work Virus hoax reported last year by antivirus company Symantec will likely bring a smile to any cube dweller's face. An excerpt from the e-mail tells the story: "There is a new virus going around called 'work.' If you receive any sort of 'work' at all, whether via e-mail, Internet, or simply handed to you by a colleague...DO NOT OPEN IT. This has been circulating around our building for months, and those who have been tempted to open 'work' or even look at 'work' have found that their social life is deleted and their brain ceases to function properly.
" Although these hoaxes and scams will never go away becase of gullible people and what not, it still a profitable way to get money from people who don't pay attention.
Sources
http://www.pcworld.com/article/150080/eigh...fallen_for.html
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/
http://www.snopes.com/
http://hoaxbusters.org/
I guess a lot of work is done by your contact network, like when you receive an email and you do reply to all, then when a friends sends you an email containing in CC a dozen other email addresses... well somehow spam messages propagate that way although the exact mechanism is not clear to me. But I know for sure if i have an email address I use very little and have limited contacts and no "reply to all" events I almost receive no spam at all!