Hey there folks,
A bit off topic, but a problem that never seems to go away - those pesky emails telling you that somebody has done something terrible and you must act now;  Or the dire virus alert you must pass along to everyone;  Or the email that says you'll get paid for every email you send.

It seems humans just can't resist those emails, much like bass can't resist Senkos.  Well folks, it's time to start hitting the "delete" key rather than the "send" button.

A new report out estimates half of all email traffic now is spam.

A lot of that spam is just a way to scam you out of your money. Either that, or they're hoaxes trying to scare you.

Based on what's flooding my email boxes, here are some of the most active spam scams and hoaxes and Web sites that can help you smoke them out.

The first just came to Buyer Beware today. It warns that hotel card keys are encrypted with your personal information -- even credit card information -- that's accessible to any employee.

It's nothing more than a rumor, that oddly enough was started by a police officer who misspoke during an investigation.

Another one flooding mail boxes deals with laundry. But not "clothes" laundry.

This spam claims your credit card has been charged more than $200 because you view child pornography or sexually explicit Web sites. They want your credit card number. It's a scam.

And remember the Thurston County couple in the news last September who got a snail mail letter about winning a lottery in Europe? That scam is hitting email too.

There's the Account Verification scam -- imposters claiming to be major companies needing to verify your account for security.

The account verification scammers pose as Pay Pal, eBay, Best Buy, EarthLink, Citibank, you name it.

They're all scams. Businesses don't do that.

And Microsoft is NOT paying Internet volunteers test its software products. Neither are Intel or AOL. No company does that.

This next email is getting a lot of people fizzed off at Pepsi and Coke. It claims they're sending out cards for free soda pop. According to this email, if you sign the card to get the freebie, the fine print on the back waives your rights on the Do Not Call Registry. Even media outlets have fallen for this one. But no one's ever found anyone who's ever found anyone who's ever received the card or the pop!

And no one has ever purchased thousands of UPS uniforms as a disguise for terrorists. And the U.S. Postal service is not planning to destroy thousands of African American postage stamps because no one will buy them. People are buying them. No stamps are being destroyed.

Probably the most prolific spam scam is the Nigerian money scam since it started in snail mail nearly 25 years ago.

There is no one trying to get their money out of a country with your help. No one is willing to pay your thousands or millions of dollars for your help. Period.

Buyer Beware's advice: Do not respond. Do not forward. Just Delete. Delete. Delete.

Bottom line: Don't believe any email that tells you to forward an alert to all your friends or give out your personal information. Click on the Web sites below instead.

For More Information:

Hoax Busters -- www.hoaxbusters.ciac.org
Urban Legends -- www.urbanlegends.com
About.Com's Urban Legends -- http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blxnew.htm
Snopes -- www.snopes.com
F-Secure Hoax Pages -- www.datafellows.fi/news/hoax
FTC "Dirty Dozen" Email Scams -- www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/doznalrt.htm
UPS Uniforms Hoax -- www.snopes.com/rumors/ups.asp
African American Postage Stamps Hoax -- www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/heritage.htm