The G virus warning is just one of many hoaxes circulating in email. This one threatens to send your password to "every computer system in the world" if you don't forward the warning to 25 other people within 48 hours. Judging from the multiple instances of > at the beginning of each line, the copy I received had obviously been forwarded dozens of times. This begs a perhaps unanswerable question. Why do so many believe these types of email?

Fear undoubtedly plays a part
Afraid the warning might be true, the recipient will forward the email even when some misgivings are present - also known as the "just in case" syndrome. Fear often occurs when there is a lack of knowledge or understanding.

Inexperience plays a part
Since a lack of knowledge creates the fear that causes some to forward hoaxes, it could be construed that believing in hoaxes is a hallmark of new or inexperienced computer users.

Using the G virus admonishment as an example, how would one know whether the person did or didn't forward the email to 25 others within 48 hours? To a more experienced user, the answer is simple. There would be no reliable means to determine whether it was sent, thereby signifying the email as a hoax. Thus, knowledge of the medium, i.e. email, is an important factor in determining what is - and isn't - true.

What is most interesting about the G virus hoax is that it doesn't even attempt to legitimize the information by citing reputable sources. For example, the popular hoax An Internet Flower For You claims to be an announcement from Intel. Another popular hoax, Join the Crew, cites IBM and AOL as the alleged source of the warning. Both examples have at least some reason, however slight, to explain why it might be believed.

In the case of the G virus hoax, even this bit of foolery is missing. What is left is simply an anonymous warning of dire circumstances if said email is not forwarded.

At a glance then, here are the tell-tale signs of a hoax, all of which are common to the more generic G virus hoax:

• ALL CAPS. Legitimate warnings will be written in a technical manner and will not be presented in all capital letters. If the majority of the email is written in all caps, it can almost certainly be discounted.
• Urging recipients to forward the email to everyone (or any number of people) in their address book.
• Describing the virus as being "the worst ever" or the "worst threat on the Internet". Legitimate warnings may include a severity indicator, i.e. the virus may be rated a high risk, but jargon such as "worst virus ever" will not be included.
• Multiple instances of forwarding, as judged by the number of angle brackets >> that appear at the beginning of each line. For reasons completely unknown, legitimate virus warnings are almost never heavily forwarded. Thus, warning message lines beginning with >>>>> should be considered a suspected hoax.
• Dire sounding language. Legitimate warnings are presented factually with little fanfare and will include ample technical descriptions of the virus with little sense of urgency. Hoaxes, on the other hand, almost always include scare tactics such as WARNING! (Notice the all caps?).

The Hoax Encyclopedia contains listings and descriptions of common virus hoaxes  Consult it first and if still tempted to forward something "just in case", be sure to read the article Toxic Excuses before you do.