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<NOBR>Update #353</NOBR> Hello again from snopes.com, where we shed light on the wild tales you've heard! This <NOBR>e-mail</NOBR> 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 <NOBR>2 March</NOBR> 2008. 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 - Rumor says doctors let die those patients who've indicated they'll donate their organs.
- Is your pet snake sizing you up as its next meal?
- E-mails warn that gang initiates in Montgomery, Alabama, are sneaking into cars at service stations and raping white female motorists.
- Collection of linked trailers forms a "redneck mansion"?
- Does a video show U.S. Marines in Iraq throwing a puppy off a hillside?
- Editorial criticizes anachronisms in <NOBR>Barack Obama's</NOBR> 2007 Selma speech.
- Yet another hoax site: Get rich by investing in dog fighting at PuppyProfits.com.
- About Oprah Winfrey and the "New Age Christianity" of A Course in Miracles.
- Don't forget to visit our Daily Snopes page for a collection of odd news stories from around the world.
Worth a Second Look - Wild tale about a musician's receiving a fatal head injury from a trombone slide.
Still Haunting the Inbox - Political rumors continue to swell around the two leading Democratic presidential contenders, <NOBR>Barack Obama</NOBR> and <NOBR>Hillary Clinton</NOBR>.
- Appeals to find missing children: Ashley Flores, Reachelle Marie Smith, and Evan Trembley.
- E-mail claims cell phone numbers are about to be given to telemarketers.
- Computer virus warnings: Life Is Beautiful, Invitation (or Olympic Torch), and Postcard (or Greeting Card).
- E-mail claims Starbucks refused to send free coffee to G.I.s serving in Iraq.
- E-mail claims Bill Gates, Microsoft and AOL are giving away cash and merchandise to those who forward an e-mail message.
- E-mail claims that entering one's PIN in reverse at any ATM will summon the police.
- E-mail describes woman who evades a rapist posing as a policeman by calling #77 (or *677) on her cell phone.
- Various rumors about the U.S. Social Security system.
- Image shows artist's conception of the <NOBR>USS New York,</NOBR> an under-construction warship built using steel from the World Trade Center.
- Warnings about scammers' running up long-distance charges by asking victims to press <NOBR>#-9-0 on their telephones or luring phone users into returning calls to numbers within the 809 area code.
- "Slow Dance," a poem supposedly written by a terminally ill young girl named Amy Bruce.
- E-mail claims the design of new U.S. <NOBR>dollar coins</NOBR> omits the motto "In God We Trust."
- E-mail warns that auto thieves are stealing cars by using VINs to obtain duplicate keys.
- Transcripts of remarks attributed to television personalities <NOBR>Andy Rooney</NOBR> and <NOBR>Jay Leno.</NOBR>
- FDA health advisory regarding drugs containing PPA (phenylpropanolamine).
- Web site allocates money to <NOBR>autism research</NOBR> and other charities for every video viewed.
- Photograph shows a kayaker being trailed by a Great White shark.
Fraud Afoot - Seems like everyone has become the recipient of mysterious <NOBR>e-mails</NOBR> 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 claiming 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 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.
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by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
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