Types of Email Hoaxes
Knowing the types of hoax emails is the first step towards dealing with them. Email hoaxes are usually of the following categories:

• Mails that appeal to help someone in trouble like missing child hoaxes or charity hoaxes.
• False virus alerts or bogus warnings.
• Email Chain Letters.
• Emails that promise free gifts or cash rewards on forwarding emails.
• Emails that make petitions and protests.

How to check email hoax
Email hoaxes have a few peculiarities which expose them and give them away. Checking for these peculiarities will help one identify email hoaxes.

• A hoaxer wants his message to spread across as many recipients possible. Phrases like Forward this to everyone you know or Forward this email to all the people in your address book are very commonly used lines in email hoaxes. Some emails might also specify a certain number of people that it should be forwarded so that you could win a prize or gain a benefit.
• Note the language of the mail. Hoax emails typically use 'over the top' style of writing. Words like Urgent, Danger, Hurry are typical of email hoaxes. For greater effect, these words are written in upper case. There are certain hoax emails that appeal to help dying children or people hit by some calamity. Such emails use language, dripping with emotion. Be skeptical and use your own judgment before forwarding such emails.
• Hoax emails try to sound authentic by claiming to be backed by some government organization or big corporate entity. If that is the case then look for some sign of genuine involvement of such an organization or entity. Try to search in for any way you could contact those organizations. If not, it's a hoax email that you are reading.
• Email hoaxes do not provide verifiable evidence or link to another website related to the content of the mail. For example, if the mail seems to be an alert for some virus, look out for a link of some other site that corroborates the information. Also look for a signature of the sender in the email. If there is no reference of the person or organization who sent the mail, it's time to reconsider the veracity of the mail.

Here's How:

1. Note whether the text you've received was actually written by the person who sent it. Did anyone sign their name to it? If not, be skeptical.
2. Look for the telltale phrase, 'Forward this to everyone you know!' The more urgent the plea, the more suspect the message.
3. Look for statements like 'This is NOT a hoax' or 'This is NOT an urban legend.' They typically mean the opposite of what they say.
4. Watch for overly emphatic language, as well as frequent use of UPPERCASE LETTERS and multiple exclamation points!!!!!!!
5. If the text seems aimed more at persuading than informing the reader, be suspicious. Like propagandists, hoaxers are more interested in pushing people's emotional buttons than communicating accurate information.
6. If the message purports to impart extremely important information that you've never heard of before or read elsewhere in legitimate venues, be very suspicious.
7. Read carefully and think critically about what the message says, looking for logical inconsistencies, violations of common sense and blatantly false claims.
8. Look for subtle or not-so-subtle jokes — indications that the author is pulling your leg.
9. Check for references to outside sources of information. Hoaxes don't typically cite verifiable evidence, nor link to Websites with corroborating information.
10. Check to see if the message has been debunked by Websites that debunk urban legends and Internet hoaxes (see below).
11. Research any factual claims in the text to see if there is published evidence to support them. If you find none, odds are you've been the recipient of an email hoax.

Tips:

1. Virtually any email chain letter you receive (i.e., any message forwarded multiple times before it got to you) is more likely to be false than true. You should automatically be skeptical of chain letters.
2. Hoaxers usually try every means available to make their lies believable -- e.g., mimicking a journalistic style, attributing the text to a 'legitimate' source, or implying that powerful corporate or government interests have tried to keep the information from you.
3. Be especially wary of health-related rumors. Most importantly, never act on 'medical information' forwarded from unknown sources without first verifying its accuracy with a doctor or other reliable source.

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