snopes.com: <NOBR>Update #376</NOBR> Hello again from snopes, 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 snopes.com web site and provides pointers to older pieces about rumors and hoaxes still wandering into everyone's inboxes. Our last update mailing was <NOBR>9 August</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 <NOBR>�?it's</NOBR> 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 - Will electing John McCain save U.S. taxpayers the pension money paid to former presidents?
- Did Precept Ministries International founder <NOBR>Kay Arthur</NOBR> warn conference attendees that "God had revealed to her that a literal famine is coming to America"?
- The lowdown on various articles attributed to columnist <NOBR>Thomas Sowell.</NOBR>
- E-mails masquerading as CNN or MSNBC <NOBR>News Alerts</NOBR> attempt to lure users into downloading malicious software.
- Have hundreds of people been cured by a touch from <NOBR>Barack Obama?</NOBR>
- E-mail requests prayers for Katie Fitch, a three-year-old South Carolina girl with a hepatoblastoma.
- E-mail attributed to comedian Bill Cosby outlines a platform for a write-in presidential candidate.
- Don't forget to visit our Daily Snopes page for a collection of odd news stories from around the world!
Worth a Second Look - Farm kid's letter home describes life as a Marine.
Still Haunting the Inbox - Political rumors continue to swell around the two major-party presidential contenders, <NOBR>Barack Obama</NOBR> and <NOBR>John McCain</NOBR>.
- Images show the USS New York, a warship built using steel from the World Trade Center.
- Videos purportedly show popcorn being popped with cellphones.
- Computer virus warnings: Postcard (or Greeting Card), <NOBR>Osama bin Laden</NOBR> Captured (or Hanged) and <NOBR>MSNBC / CNN</NOBR> <NOBR>News Alert.</NOBR>
- Various articles attributed to columnist <NOBR>Thomas Sowell.</NOBR>
- Warning about thieves breaking into cars by capturing remote <NOBR>keyless entry</NOBR> signals.
- Long-running hoax claims Bill Gates, Microsoft and AOL are giving away cash and merchandise to those who forward an e-mail message.
- Various rumors about the U.S. Social Security system.
- Petitions urge Americans to buy/not buy gasoline from Citgo or Petro Express stations.
- E-mail claims Rep. Nancy Pelosi has proposed a windfall profits tax on retirement income.
- E-mail describes woman who evades a rapist posing as a policeman by calling #77 (or *677) on her cell phone.
- E-warning cautions that <NOBR>cell phone</NOBR> numbers are being sold to telemarketers.
- Warnings about scammers' running up long-distance charges by asking victims to press <NOBR>#-9-0</NOBR> on their telephones or luring phone users into returning calls to numbers within the 809 area code.
- Outdated information about the planet Mars making a once-in-our-lifetimes, remarkably close approach to Earth in <NOBR>August 2008.</NOBR>
- Information about Irena Sendler, a woman credited with saving 2,500 Polish Jews from the Holocaust.
- Essay attributed to comedian <NOBR>Jay Leno</NOBR> (or David Letterman) urges Americans to focus on the positive.
- Commentary by actor/writer <NOBR>Ben Stein</NOBR> on the observance of Christmas.
- Aspartame: Responsible for an epidemic of cancer, brain tumors, and multiple sclerosis, or not?
- E-mail requests prayers for <NOBR>Katie Fitch,</NOBR> a three-year-old girl with a hepatoblastoma.
- Controversy over employees at a <NOBR>Tyson Foods</NOBR> plant being given a paid day off for the Muslim holiday of <NOBR>Eid al-Fitr.</NOBR>
- Appeals to find missing children: Ashley Flores, Reachelle Marie Smith, and Evan Trembley.
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 <NOBR>419 Scam</NOBR> 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 <NOBR>jury duty</NOBR> 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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