So the last two types of chain letters are Hoaxes or Urban legends and Humorous or Just for Fun type.

5. Hoaxes/Urban Legends

Hoaxes are deliberate attempt trick a group of people into believing or accepting, that what is being said is true when in fact it is false. In an instance of a hoaxes are usually created to cause embarrassment to an audience by having them believe something that is not. The information or media in a hoax is presented in a way that it sounds as something real or believable to human understanding but in fact it is false.

One of the biggest story's on the internet was that just by reading a message with "Good Times" in the subject line will erase the hard drive, and destroy the computer's processor. Warnings about Good Times had been distributed on mailing lists, newsgroups, and displayed on numerous message boards. Obviously, it was a hoax, but a lot of people believed it. It had raised a lot of concern and the email was doing the rounds all over the world.

Another rumour that had spread rapidly via word-of-mouth, email, phone and sms claimed that simply receiving a cell phone call from certain numbers will activate a terrible virus that causes brain haemorrhage and death. According to the message, the phone calls created high frequency tones that damage the user's brain, causing fatal injuries. It said that the killer numbers will appear in red colour. It had caused terror through the east Asian countries. The impact was such that even news channels and media were covering the story. Needless to say that again it was a hoax without an ounce of truth in it.

Why hoaxes are undesired :

1. For those who already know about the hoax, it's a nuisance to read the repeated warnings multiple times.
2. For people who know or understand that it is a hoax, its a time waste reading about it.
3. For people who don't know its a hoax and are duped into believing, it causes needless concern and hampers their productivity.
4. A lot of time and energy is wasted in declaring the hoaxes as a hoax and reassuring people.
5. The hoaxes unnecessarily cause a wave of panic. It is interesting to know how sometimes even educated people all over the world get fooled by them. From government agencies to media people, all fallen victim to the stories.
   
   Please remember : You can't get a virus just by reading an e-mail. But please never open any attachments on unknown emails.

6. Humorous or Just for Fun

This category of chain letters are sent out just for fun and a few laughs. Most of our regular forwarded messages fall into this category. These type of chain letters have become popular on social networking sites like MySpace in the form of bulletins and on Youtube in the form of video's and comments. On Facebook and Orkut they are through messages, scraps or applications. Such chain letters are often sent with the promise of providing the person with some information once they've forwarded the message to umpteen number of people.

More famous and recent ones in this category are the ones wherein you are suppose to forward a story, a message or click to receive a video of some popular celebrity caught off-guard or in an awkward situation. Or you could have been promised to receive an extremely funny clip like the Ronald McDonald beating up the Taco Bell dog one. Sometimes some part of a story needs to be passed on to read the next or continued part of an intriguing story that you were caught up in reading. Since its another online practical joke the promised chapters of the incomplete story never show up. Neither does the video or the McDonald clip.

Another such email explains how any picture that you see on the computer is made up of pixels and its detailed graphics. Next it promises to capture your current image without the need of a web camera. But when you click the ‘button' a mocking gorilla's picture springs up on the screen. You realize that you were taken for a ride.

Remember receiving the chain letter distributed on MSN Hotmail with the subject ‘Hey it's Tara and John the directors of MSN'. The body states that your account would be deleted if you don't sent the message to everyone on your address book. Or the one doing the rounds on Orkut where it said ‘Orkut is deleting accounts'. They too could fall in the category of leg-pull's.

Some emails mimic the form taken by their money-generating cousins, those who receive these obviously know that its a joke. These mailings are only meant to bring some smiles to the recipients and that it that. One such humour chain letter instructs unhappy wives to bundle up their good-for-nothing husbands and mail them to the woman whose name appears at the top of the list. And then add their own name at the bottom. When someone's names arise to the top spot they are guaranteed to receive thousands of similarly-discarded husbands, some of which might prove worth keeping. It also warns in the end ‘not to break the chain,' and then goes on to say, one woman who did so, got her own husband back.

Someone had sent me this email and this time I could not resist hitting the forward key.

Hi!! I have lost my HB pencil with a rubber attached. The pencil costs Rs.3/. If u forward this msg I will get one paisa from XYZ Bank. If you have a heart and want to help a poor child in need, plz fwd it to atleast 10 friends. Please don't neglect. Otherwise my mom will scold me. If you forward it then your life will change for ever. Good Luck will come to you for wasting time & forwarding this nonsense message. May God bless you.

The most ridiculous forward was the one that stated how Bill Gates had just fixed a deal with the Pope to buy the Catholic Church and use Vatican City as an international headquarters to sell religious software and gain a controlling interest in Church affairs.

Some believed in the story because of Microsoft's incredible market power, but they didn't realize how ridiculous the whole idea of any company purchasing a major world religion was. The email said that priests would listen to confessions on-line via the new Microsoft Network. And that people could receive Communion without having to leave home, now how dumb could one be to believe all this!

This email was suppose to be a joke, but many people missed the humour in the story. So what had actually started out as a joke became a huge hoax as more and more people believed in the story, to the extent that both Microsoft and the AP had to send out press releases denying the purchase of the Church and denouncing the hoax. You never know what people will believe.

When we talk about chain letters as any document containing an instruction set to pass the item onto others for their protection, benefit, or well-being, then the written communications from the Middle Ages could be considered as the first chain letters. People wrote cures which were actually combinations of recipes for simple panaceas and special prayers to be recited as these medicines were mixed or being consumed. Such communications were then recopied by those who received them and they then redistributed these to loved ones, who in turn would themselves recopy these wisdoms to hand to their dear ones. In those times such letters were also sold by peddlers and fortune tellers.

So chain letters could also be written or printed letters on paper. These might be exchanged hand-to-hand or distributed through the mail. The newest forms of chain letters are our emails, videos and messages on the social networking sites.
They are a general nuisance as the frequently multiplying letters clog up the postal system wasting great amounts of bandwidth and disk space.

Today there are a variety of chain letters. Those that contain prayers or goodluck for the recipient, the ones promising easy money or the ones saying "Send this to five of your friends..." Mostly, chain letters fall into these broad categories:

• Luck-generation (or ill luck avoidance)
• Altruistic
• Money-generating (aka pyramid or Ponzi schemes)
• Something for nothing
• Hoaxes/ Urban legends
• Humorous/Just for fun

1. Luck-generation letters (or ill luck avoidance)

   Good Luck letters contain emotionally manipulative stories or superstition which threaten the recipient with bad luck or sometimes even death, by telling tales of other's deaths and mishaps, if they "break the chain." Such letter have the basic structure as :
   • The letter begins with a request to pray and trust the Lord or think about someone you love.
   • Introduction or Origins of the letter : A description of the person who began the letter which could be a priest or a saint or sometimes even a doctor. Then a statement of where the letter originated from Great Britain, some state in the US of A, Italy, the Netherlands or even Egypt will be given. Often the claim of the letter's having been around the world a stated number of times is included.
   • So-called Success Stories and accounts of the happy circumstances of people who followed instructions and sent the letter is given along with a detailed description of their experience of sudden luck which could be financial or be related to matters of romance or could be a miraculous recovery from illness.
   • Then comes the punishment stories where accounts are given of the setbacks or tragedies like job loss or a broken heart, injury or even death that befell those who ignored the letter and didn't pass it on.
   • Instructions and the enclosed Good luck : The recipient is given the number of copies of the letter that needs to be distributed, and contains a detailed description of how many copies will fetch what kind or extent of good luck and in how much time.
   • Though we all hate getting the ‘goodluck' emails we end up forwarding it to friends and friends of friends too, not for the good luck it promised but from the fear of the bad fate it'll bring if you do not forward it. Once you read stories of this man that was struck with bad luck since he did not take the email seriously, or about this woman who met with an accident since she did not take the warning contained in the email seriously, you cant take chances. You hit the forward key. It is like ragging, everyone faces it, hates it but will do it to their juniors. Its a vicious circle.

2. Altruistic Letters

   Altruistic chain letters are those forwards seeking benefit for others rather than for the recipients or the forwarders. They don't promise any financial enrichment or improvement of luck of their recipients, but contain prayers for the suffering. These claim to be written by charitable groups or the needy themselves. We have heard of many ‘dying child/ family member' hoaxes which circulate online. They assert that every forward of the message or email will result in benefactors, which could be either named charities or corporations donating preset sum of money for the care / operation of the stricken. These messages just beg you to "Forward this to everyone you know", you don't need to say any prayers nor give donations, "Just a click of the mouse ie forwarding the message could save their life". Most often than not the languishing children are imaginary.
   
   Some other forms of altruistic letters contain appeals of the "dying person themselves and intent upon collecting specific items". The most famous of these was the Craig Shergold chain letters appeal for business cards. This was a real child and the email was as real as his brain tumour.
   
   In early 1989, a 9-year-old British boy named Craig Shergold was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. He wondered if he could get into the Guinness Book of World Records for receiving get-well cards. (Or was it postcards? Or maybe it was business cards. Versions of this hoax have varied over the years in which Craig could be Shergold, a Shelford or a George Sherwood)
   
   Well then, a chain letter started by his family netted millions of cards and he won the world record on Thursday 16 November 1989. In early 1991 the Shergold phenomenon caught the attention of a wealthy American philanthropist, who arranged for Craig to receive brain surgery.
   
   It's interesting to know that now Guinness has discontinued the category since Craig has already won the record but people haven't stopped sending cards. He's no longer at the London hospital which keeps receiving get-well cards and flowers. A now healthy and recovered 28 something, Craig has expressed a new wish on behalf of himself and his family: for the cards to stop coming. But the monster he created doesn't seem to listen. Craig and his family have appeared numerous times in the press and begged for the torrent of misplaced sympathy to stop.
   
   Thanks to the Internet, though, kindly people keep telling everyone they know that Craig needs more cards. It's a fine sentiment but ask people in the Children's Wish Foundation based in Atlanta, Georgia, who still have to process his mail to this day.
   Sometimes the children and their situations are real, as are their requests. Those participating in these chains not only pass along the requests to their circles of acquaintance but also themselves donate the items requested. But the world cannot handle another Craig Shergold episode. Just imagine what a waste of time and drain of resources it must have led to!!
   

3. Money Generating

   These chain letters promise the participants of receiving untold riches, by just contributing a few dollars and following exact steps as explained in the letter. The steps that follow are mostly such :
   
   • Step 1 - Send the token amount ($5, for example) to the name at the top of the list.
   • Step 2 - Delete one name and address from the top of the list thereby sliding the second person into the top position and add your own name and address to the base of the list.
   • Step 3 - Recopy the letter, and mail it to atleast ten people.
   • Step 4 - Sit back and see your 5s earn you a fortune!!

   What is supposed to happen :

   As new people are added behind your name, you will move higher on the list, one tier at a time until ultimately you occupy the top spot, at which moment you will receive the pool of money from all the people who forward the email with your name deleted and putting their own name at the bottom.

   Why such schemes don't work :

   First reason - money-generating chain letters are illegal under Title 18, United States Code, Section 1302, the Postal Lottery Statute.
   Second reason - not everyone is honest, so there will always be those who will simply insert their names near the top of the list. Also there is no guarantee that the person who forwarded the email, actually sent the 5$ or whatever the token amount is to the top person on the list.

   And the most important reason as to why the money will NEVER reach you :

   Just for the analysis sake let's consider you are the only person to receive and forward the email honestly. The number of people you sent out the email to is 10, so the chart goes as follows :

   Your position : Number of people : In words
   10th : 10 : Ten
   9th : 100 : Hundred
   8th : 1,000 : Thousand
   7th : 10,000 : Ten Thousand
   6th : 100,000 : Hundred Thousand
   5th : 1,000,000 : Million
   4th : 10,000,000 : Ten Million
   3rd : 100,000,000 : Hundred Million
   2nd : 1,000,000,000 : Billion
   1st : 10,000,000,000 : Ten Billion

   So by the time we reach halfway ie 5th generation, the email would have reached over one million addresses! Do you think there are that many people emailing? Even if that many people DO use emails, there aren't enough people in the US to maintain the next three generations ie till the 2nd generation. (Population of US is 304257975 as on June 6th, 2008 ). As of June 2008, the world's population is believed to be just over 6.6 billion (6,672,235,613 Today ie 06/05/08 at 13:17 GMT (EST+5) ), so there aren't even that many people on the planet! The entire world population cannot survive the 1st generation till your name can appear on the top.
   
   Most famous and may be the first of the ‘MAKE MONEY FAST' chain is the David Rhodes letter. He assures you in the email that this scam, Oops! Sorry, his scheme worked for him and was perfectly legal. His story starts by saying that before this email idea struck him, he was penniless and desperate. (I wonder how a person that broke could afford his computer and have an internet connection!) And now he's made over $400,000 after sending out copies of the letter which by the way also contains countless number of other such success stories of financial empowerment. This ridiculously long and illegal letter has landed Dave Rhodes (the creator of the email) in a prison in Florida for wire fraud.
   
   These e-mail chain letters are more than a simple disk-space-wasting nuisance. The participants can be prosecuted for wire fraud for taking part in the illegal mailings.

4. Something for Nothing

   These kind of chain mails contain false promises of enhancing your life by either offering you some kind of branded accessories or adding some money to your pockets. They can claim to bring you fame or just entertain you. These differ from the above money-generating chain letters in a way that those involved in the forwarding of such letters do not themselves send anything of their own instead they are promised goodies will come their way by merely forwarding the letter. Such letters usually promise a phenomenal return on a small effort. People get lured since there's not much risk involved to see what comes back actually.
   
   Some famous emails of this sort were the Nike one stating Nike will give you free shoes for forwarding. Or Applebees will treat you to a dinner for you and your date if you continue the chain. Or the one announcing that Veuve-Clicquot is gifting participants with gratis champagne. Though you forward these emails, nothing comes back your way. The first something for nothing kind of email chain was the one saying Disney will reward you with a trip for two to Disney World! These emails state that the brand or company mentioned is tracking the e-mail, and all the people who receive and forward it will receive to mentioned goodies. These are a form of practical joke played to made you look foolish. Another famous one in this category where the emphasis was on seeking fame rather than fortune is the Guinness Book of World Records hoax. People especially children are attracted by the promise of their names being listed in the Guinness book if the chain is kept alive long enough for a world record of ‘the longest chain letter' to be set.

The last two categories ie Hoaxes/ Urban legends and Humorous/ Just for fun will be covered in another article since this article is extremely big already. Look forward to some laughs.

The truth is their is no way for any company to accurately keep track of how many times an email has been forwarded. Think about it, a company would have to have access to every email account in the world. The government probably has those capabilities but I can assure you Pepsi, Coke, Hershey's and the countless other companies that these emails claim to be affiliated with do not.

What about all of the amazing stories that populate forwards? The dog that retrieves the stick of dynamite-false. The kid with chemical burns from a Mr. Clean Eraser-false. There are too many rumors to list. Rumors live on because people pass on information with little regard for fact.

Their are websites that you can visit to check out the latest internet rumors.

Before you click your forward button flooding your friends and family with rumors you might want to check out that story for yourself.