Recently, Mark's son, Matt, was excited to learn about a great way to make money on the Internet. Mark had to explain to his son the facts of online hoaxes. This was just one in a series of scams, hoaxes and false rumors that are making their way around the Internet. One side effect of the emerging Web is that it makes it easier to pull off hoaxes, which range from get-rich schemes to false virus alerts.
Kids are particularly gullible to e-mail scams.
Despite the weird nature of these messages, the scams can often live for years. That's why it pays to alert your kids to these scams and work out a family strategy for dealing with them. Tell your kids that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don't be duped into thinking it's credible just because their friends sent it. Tell your children to never forward chain letters or other hoaxes to their friends, which will only continue the hoax.