We’ve all at some point received an email passed along from some well meaning friend or family member. The nature of the email on the face seems like a good effort to support: helping out a sick child or putting your name on a petition for a good cause. Other times the email is simply a neat story. What’s the common link between these emails? They are all fake.

Before you get caught up in passing along and contributing to the longevity of an email that’s a hoax, here are some pointers to help you determine if an email is true or not.

Many fake emails play on your emotions. “Send this to everyone you know!” is usually a red flag.

The email plays on your emotion. Hoax emails are designed to get you to react emotionally so you don’t stop and think about the legitimacy of the actual message.

The “too cute or neat to be true” message. The facts of the email sounds so fascinating that you can’t resist passing the email along.

Check the urban legends web sites to see if the email has already been reported. The two best Urban Legends sites are: http://urbanlegends.about.com and http://snopes.com

If you can’t find the email on the urban legend sites, I recommend “googling” to email. To do this, go to http://www.google.com and type in the subject of the email plus the words “urban legend”.