A long time ago before the internet was even a twinkle in Al Gore’s eye, chain letters made the rounds among friends through the snail mail or hand-delivery system. You’d get a letter from someone telling you that you had to duplicate the letter by hand and then send it on to usually 7, 10, or even 15 of your friends and if you didn’t well, bad luck would be your reward. However, if you did what the letter said, you would be rich beyond your wildest dreams.

It is interesting to note that nowhere in history is there a story that has been backed up with facts telling of a person who, after answering a chain letter, was ever rewarded with anything other than a feeling of having been had. While everyone wants to believe that chain letters work to bring about good luck, the fact of the matter is they are just another way to make someone look silly for not only believing in them but stupid enough to do what the letter says.

With the advent of the internet, chain letters have taken on a whole new dimension offering gullible readers money for simply forwarding an e-mail on to 10 or more friends, or offering a total stranger a brand new computer or $1000 gift card from any number of retail outlets simply by clicking on the e-mail. And, of course, there is no laptop; there is no $1000 gift card. What there is, by many accounts, is a nasty little virus waiting to attach itself to the first gullible person’s computer with the only message reading “gotcha!”

What are even more insidious than the “forward them on” or “you have just won” e-mails, are what’s called phishing (pronounced fishing) scams that feed off the gullibility of what they hope are people stupid enough to give their most private and personal information over the internet in return for some promised wealth or even just because they’ve been told that their bank or credit card company needs verification of account information in order to serve you better. Phishing scams have parted many a person from their money simply by feeding off the willingness to be helpful.

Here is a word of advice, no legitimate business, be it a bank, a credit union, a credit card company, your employer, your insurance company, the IRS, the Social Security Office, or any other governmental, financial, employment-related, educational or school-related business that you have now or have ever done business with will write you an e-mail requesting that you re-verify your personal information for them. This includes your social security number, your driver’s license number, your banking account or credit card numbers, or any other number that can readily be used to steal your identity.

And for good measure, never, ever use your mother’s maiden name, your favorite pet’s name, or your spouse’s name as a password for anything you sign up for on the internet because, as sure as the sun shines, there are people out there waiting to take advantage of your trustful nature.

Because really, think about it, if Microsoft was giving out money just for forwarding an e-mail, if you could get a $1000 gift card just for clicking on an e-mail, or if all you needed to do to get a new computer in the mail when you weren’t even in the market for a new computer is to give the swell person offering the computer a few private details like your address and banking information, well, what would be the need for anyone having to make their money the old-fashioned way, i.e. working for it?