Snopes.com

I was reminded a couple of weeks ago of the importance of checking out rumors and other spoofs I stumble upon online. Some of them are really convincing but usually turn out to be urban legends and the like.

You see, I received an e-mail from a colleague about a phone scam. Apparently, a person claiming to know something about your credit card will leave a message (or something like that) asking you to call back to a certain phone number and area code. The spoof alleged that if you did, indeed, call this number back, you'd be charged - like - thousands of dollars for the call. Again, I'm paraphrasing.

Anyway, I totally fell for it: hook, line and sinker, and promptly alerted my network to watch out for this scam. Luckily, a more "level-headed" friend reminded me to check Snopes first. Duh! Of course! Why didn't I think of that. I never fall for crap like this. But, this time, I had been duped. Turns out, this was just a rumor without much merit.

Snopes.com (http://www.snopes.com) is a great place to see if other people have reported the same incident and to see if it's legit or not. They've even categorized the spin to make it easier to find what you're looking for.

So as I wipe egg off my face (smile), I hope you decide to not believe everything you read - at least not right away. Not until you have "just the facts, ma'am" - or dude, respectively.

TGIF everyone!