Urban Legends Reference Pages Update #326

 

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Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 3:39 PM

Subject: Urban Legends Reference Pages Update #326

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	Urban Legends Reference Pages: Update #326 Hello again from snopes.com, where we shed light on the wild tales you've heard! This e-mail gives information about new articles recently added to the Urban Legends Reference Pages and provides pointers to older pieces about rumors and hoaxes still wandering into everyone's inboxes. Our last update mailing was August 25, 2007. If after this update you are left wondering about something newly arrived in your inbox, our search engine stands ready to assist you. Bookmark that URL — it's a keeper! An RSS feed for our What's New page is available at the following URL: http://www.snopes.com/info/whatsnew.xml And now to the legends, the mayhem, and the misinformation! New Articles The grateful Arab's warning not to drink Coca-Cola is back — but now it's about Pepsi. Pranking radio DJ prompts a startling admission from the joke's intended victim. Another phishing scam: E-mail from the IRS offers $80 to those who complete "member satisfaction surveys." Scam: E-mailed IRS notice claims the recipient is eligible for a tax refund. Was the city of Yreka, California, named for a backwards bakery sign? E-mail claims Muslim girls buried alive by their father were fed and comforted by Jesus until rescuers came for them. Latest hoax: Help find missing 15-year old Evan Trembley of Wichita Falls, Texas. Worth a Second Look Humor piece: Farm kid's letter home describes life as a Marine. Still Haunting the Inbox 1998 and 1999 warnings about rattlesnakes and heroin-filled syringes offing little kids who play in ball pits at fast food restaurants have returned. Still false. While it's true a consortium of wireless providers is planning to create a 411 (directory assistance) service for cell phone numbers, you need not register your cell phone with the national "Do Not Call" directory to prevent your number from being provided to telemarketers. We look at two eraser sponge rumors, that they contain formaldehyde or have caused chemical burns when rubbed on skin. Dialing #77 or *677 is not a surefire way of reaching the local highway patrol — the service is in place in some regions, but not in others. If in need of assistance, dial 911 instead for the sure thing. There was no letter to Starbucks from coffee-seeking G.I.s serving in Iraq, so no response from the coffee retailer saying it didn't support the war and anyone in it. As for Oscar Mayer refusing troops free hot dogs, the 2004 Starbucks e-mail was altered in 2007 to aim it at the blameless hot dog maker. No, the new dollar coin doesn't omit "In God We Trust" - that phrase has been stamped into its edge. Is Illinois Senator Barack Obama "ideologically Muslim"? The missing child alert about 13-year-old Ashley Flores of Philadelphia is a hoax. The entreaty to aid 7-year-old Amy Bruce who is dying of lung cancer and a brain tumor by forwarding an email and a sappy poem titled "Slow Dance" is a hoax. Is there a Wal-Mart check theft ring? The Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act (which seeks to ensure that insurance companies cover a minimum of 48-hour hospital stays for those undergoing mastectomies) is before the House again (which it has been every odd year since 1999). Images do show the USS New York, which is being built with steel from the Twin Towers. No, Jay Leno did not write the "Hits the Nail on the Head" essay — it was Craig R. Smith. Will pressing #-9-0 on your telephone allow scammers to make long-distance calls and charge them to your phone bill? 3-year-old Reachelle Marie Smith is missing from her Minot, North Dakota, home. E-mailed petition advocates denying social services to immigrants. No, Johns Hopkins Hospital has not issued a "cancer update" detailing how cancer spreads and recommending methods for treating the disease. No, reusing plastic bottles will not result in their breaking down into cancer-causing components. Yes, Bank of America has been offering credit cards to customers who lack Social Security cards. No, robbers are not luring female victims into sniffing ether-laced perfume in parking lots. While it is true that in 2004 a man in India was electrocuted when trying to use his cell phone as it recharged, it is safe to use your cell phone while it is charging. Hillary Clinton is the subject of many e-mailed items, and our "Clintons" section contains write-ups about a number of them. No, Bill Gates is not sharing his fortune with everyone who forwards a specific e-mail on his behalf. This tired leg-pull continues to romp through everyone's inbox, the most widespread incarnation swearing "This took two pages of the Tuesday USA Today!" Virus announcement and virus hoax e-mails are afoot! We try to keep current on them and do our best to point readers to authoritative links confirming or debunking them. Fraud Afoot Seems like everyone has become the recipient of mysterious e-mails promising untold wealth if only one helps a wealthy foreigner quietly move millions of dollars out of his country. The venerable Nigerian Scam has discovered the goldmine that is the Internet. Beware — there's still no such thing as "something for nothing," and the contents of your bank account will end up with these wily foreigners if you fall in with this. Likewise, look out for mailings announcing you've won a foreign lottery you don't recall entering. Or that because you share the surname of a wealthy person who died without leaving a will you're in line for a windfall inheritance. And be especially wary if, while trying to sell or rent anything online (car, boat, horse, motorcycle, painting, apartment, you name it) you're approached by a prospective buyer/renter who wants to pay with a cashier check made out for an amount in excess of the agreed-upon price and who asks the balance be sent to a third party. Aspiring work-at-homers promised big bucks for acting as intermediaries for international transactions wherein they cash checks for other parties or reship goods to them have been defrauded by con artists. Don't you be next. If someone telephones to announce you can have a $200 Wal-Mart shopping spree or $200 in gasoline coupons in return for a $3.49 processing charge to be debited directly from your bank account, hang up. You're being set up via the promise of "something for almost nothing" into authorizing a swindler to help himself to the contents of your bank account. If someone calls to announce you've failed to appear for jury duty and will be arrested, do not give the caller your personal and financial information in an effort to prove he's sending the gendarmes after the wrong guy. You're being tricked into giving up this information to an identity thief. Admin Stuff View the latest edition of the snopes.com newsletter online. Please note that the e-mail address update@snopes.com is an administrative address used only for mailing weekly updates to subscribers. All mail sent to this address is automatically deleted. If you wish to change your subscription information or unsubscribe, please use the links provided at the bottom of every newsletter mailing. If you wish to find information on a particular topic, please use the search engine. Our What's New page and our 25 Hottest Urban Legends page are also handy places to check whenever you receive something questionable in your inbox. Other inquiries and comments may be submitted through the "Contact Us" form at snopes.com. Urban Legends Reference Pages copyright © 1995-2007 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson This material may not be reproduced without permission

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