A "Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop" Marathon!

Delve into the archives of CyberSnoop--and arm yourself against internet hoaxes and urban legends!

I realize I've slipped once again into gross neglect of this blog. Yet, my creativity seems to be at an impasse at the moment. What to do?

Well, it dawned on me that I have a wealth of stuff in Ye Olde Archives of "Notes in the Key of Life"...stuff that some of my legions of readers (yes, I'm being silly) may have never read. So why not borrow a trick from Hollywood and take the re-run route?

Dear readers, I give you the links to a whole bunch of "Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop" features.

What in the world is CyberSnoop?

This feature originated when I was Darren Marlar's co-host on 101QFL. I honestly don't remember which one of us came up with the idea, but we were both fed up with getting e-mails that paraded as truth when they were either outright lies or crazily exaggerated.

We decided I'd take on one internet rumor/e-mail hoax per week as "Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop."

There was never any lack of fodder for CyberSnoop. It seemed one or the other of us got at least one questionable e-mail a week...and often my listeners or co-workers would toss one my way.

Soon, I began to develop a kind of radar for e-mail garbage. I could smell a fake e-mail a mile away. Relatives got a little annoyed at me for de-bunking the forwards they assumed were for real and blithely sent my way (well, didn't they pay attention to the CyberSnoop motto about checking it out BEFORE you hit the "send" button?!?:))

I even did the feature on Beth Warden's syndicated radio show in Canada, as "Cindy Swanson, CyberSleuth" (Beth thought that sounded nicer than "snoop").

So here you go...

Links to some of the CyberSnoop features. And don't forget CyberSnoop's motto: Don't forget to check it out BEFORE you hit that "send" button!

--The Case of the Dead Comedian: I find out if there was any truth to the rumor that comedian Sinbad had suddenly died

--The Case of the Stolen GPS's-Are robbers stealing people's GPS's and using them to find their homes and break into them?

--The Case of the Drug-Soaked Business Card-Are criminals in the United States using businesses cards soaked with a drug called burundanga to incapacitate female victims?

--The Case of the Faulty Flip-Flops--Did Chinese-made flip-flops sold by Wal-Mart cause chemical burns on some consumers’ feet?

--The Case of the Facebook Forward--Is Facebook going to delete your account if you don’t forward a particular message?

--The Case of the Colossal Canine-Are those pictures of a 7-foot-long Great Dane for real? (You can also listen to an audio version of this one here.)

Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop: The Case of the Colossal Canine

(Go here to listen to today's CyberSnoop)

Actually, we could have called this the Case of the Gargantuan Great Dane. Are those pictures of a 7-foot-long Great Dane for real?

The e-mail that’s currently making the rounds features photographs of a blue Great Dane named George, who almost looks more like a pony than a canine, and whose owners claim he may be the world’s tallest dog.

And yes…Snopes.com and several other publications confirm he’s definitely for real, and he’s definitely that big. No photo-shopping necessary.

Giant George is a 4-year-old blue Great Dane who measures 7 feet 3 inches from nose to tail, weights 245 pounds, and stands 3 and a half feet tall at the shoulder.

George’s owners, Dave and Christie Nasser of Tucson, Arizona, say George

--sleeps on a Queen Size bed...alone
--Consumes 110 pounds of food every month
--Has to bend over to drink Out of the kitchen faucet
--Sits in a chair like a human

If you want to know more about George or want to see more amazing pictures of him, not a problem. He has his own website—www.giantgeorge.com—his own facebook page, and you can even follow him on twitter.

Confirming another internet rumor, this is Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop…reminding you to check it out BEFORE you hit that “send” button!

Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop: The Case of the Ghoulish Gangs

Are local gangs planning to kill 30 or more women on or around Halloween as part of an initiation?

That rumor has been around for a few years, but it ran rampant in October 2008, and it’s making the rounds again this year…not just through e-mail, but through social networking sites like Facebook, and cell phone texting.

As often is the case with such rumors, it’s wise to be careful and use good common sense to protect your personal safety. However, there’s NO evidence that such a gang initiation has ever taken place, or that it’s planned for this Halloween.

The messages come in various forms—usually saying that the police are actively warning people about the initiation…some even going so far as to say the police are handing out flyers at sports practices and that warning signs are being posted at Wal-Mart and other stores. The warnings vary as to how many women are going to be killed—some saying as many as 140 women will be targeted.

According to snopes.com, a New Jersey man was actually arrested in December 2008 for spreading false reports of gang violence in Jersey City. He was charged with causing false public alarm. And police departments across the country have issued assurances that the rumors are NOT credible.

The truth? Last Halloween came and went with no such massive gang killings reported.

CyberSnoop always urges you to err on the side of safety—so don’t take any risks with your personal safety this October 31st, whether you observe Halloween or not.

But don’t pass along these gang warnings, because they are completely unsubstantiated.

Clearing up another internet rumor, this is Cindy Swanson,
CyberSnoop…reminding you to check it out BEFORE you hit that “send” button!

Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop: The Case of the Facebook Forward

Is Facebook going to delete your account if you don’t forward a particular message?

The answer is NO…and if you get such a message on other free online services like Hotmail, Myspace, YouTube and others, you can ignore them as well.

This message has been showing up on Facebook for quite a while now, and my co-host Darren Marlar actually just got it last week. It reads in part:

“Facebook is recently becoming very overpopulated,there have been many members complaining that Facebook is becoming very slow. Records show that the reason is that there are too many non-active Facebook members and, on the other side, too many new Facebook members.

"We will be sending this message around to see if members are active or not. If you are active please send to at least 15 other users using Copy+ Paste to show that you are still active. *Those who do not send this message within 2 weeks will be deleted without hesitation to create more space.”

The message is supposedly signed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Snopes.com tells us that this hoax originated in 1999, but it was about Hotmail at the time...and it’s been falsely used with MySpace, Yahoo, MSN and several others.

And urbanlegends.about.com sums it up pretty well:

“Facebook officials have made no public announcements saying that the service has become ‘overpopulated’ or has ‘slowed down.’ Administrators of social networking sites on this scale don't issue misspelled and ungrammatical chain letters to their members. And even if they did, they wouldn't announce in an email that they "need to get rid of some people" to make room for the rest.

File this one in the trash bin where it belongs.”

Clearing up another internet rumor, this is Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop…reminding you to check it out BEFORE you hit that “send” button!

Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop: The Case of the Faulty Flip-Flops

Did Chinese-made flip-flops sold by Wal-Mart cause chemical burns on some consumers’ feet?

The answer is yes. However, Wal-Mart halted the sale of the sandals in 2007, while the e-mail currently circulating makes it seem as if Wal-Mart is still selling them.

The e-mail I received starts out saying, “This is quite freaky. Summer’s coming you should all be aware.” And then in a large font: “Chinese Thongs sandals sold at Walmart!!! DO NOT BUY!!!”

The e-mail goes on to show photographs of the offending sandals, and some rather disturbing photographs of a woman’s feet with horrific flip-flop shaped burns on her feet.

The current e-mail is actually a shortened version of the original one, in which a woman named Kerry Stiles chronicled her experiences with the flip-flops and included over 30 pictures of her feet. You can get the whole story at her website. But this warning: don’t look at the pictures if things like that make you queasy!

The story is actually true, and was reported on several mainstream newscasts. Wal-Mart admits to only 10 complaints about the sandals, but Kerry Stiles believes there were many more cases that didn’t contact Wal-Mart, judging by the accounts of people commented on her site.

Wal-Mart instructed its stores to stop selling the flip-flops back in September of 2007, so you won’t be in danger of buying them now.

What caused the reaction? No one is quite sure, but as truthorfiction.com writes: “When millions of products like these "Sand-N-Sun" thongs are released on the market, it's not hard to imagine that someone somewhere might experience a reaction to one of them. People are allergic to a wide variety of substances that might not affect others in the population.”

Fortunately, Kerry Stiles’ feet did eventually clear up.

Confirming another internet rumor, this is Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop…reminding you to check it out BEFORE you hit that “SEND” button!

Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop: The Case of the Very Close Planet

Is the planet Mars about to make a once-in-our-lifetimes, remarkably close approach to earth this coming August (2009)?

That’s the subject of an e-mail that’s currently making the rounds on the internet. The answer? NO. Mars is not about to make a close approach to earth this August--but it already did just that in August of 2003.

Here’s what the e-mail says:

MARS SPECTACULAR!

The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The e-mail goes on to say that Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye…but even that is inaccurate. That should have read that it would look as large as the full moon to people viewing it through a powerful telescope.

Both Snopes.com and truthorfiction.com tell us that this story was actually true in 2003…but it has circulated every summer since then. Mars has made a couple of close approaches to earth since 2003, but not nearly as close as that one.

And despite the fact that this e-mail comes out every summer, Mars will not be as close to earth as it was in 2003 until 2287.

Clearing up another internet rumor, this is Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop…reminding you to check it out BEFORE you hit that send button!

Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop: The Case of the Drug-Soaked Business Card

Are criminals in the United States using businesses cards soaked with a drug called burundanga to incapacitate female victims?

No. My sources tell me that this is another false one.

The e-mail I received just the other day comes with the subject line “Serious incident in Katy Texas…read this and be careful.”

I guess they're banking on the fact that YOU won't check this out?

An interesting note: the e-mail I received actually starts with the sentence, “I checked this out on Snopes” and actually provides a link to Snopes.com…that takes you to the very page that refutes it! Go figure.

It goes on to claim that it’s from a woman named Angelique Cole whose ex-husband is a detective for the Dallas police department. Supposedly he and his cop friends are trying to spread the word about this danger.

The e-mails start in various ways, but they pretty much all tell the story of a man coming over and offering his services as a painter to a woman putting gas in her car. She says no, but accepts his business card…and almost immediately she starts to get dizzy and and can’t catch her breath. She realizes that fumes she’s smelling are coming from the business card.

According to the e-mail, the substance on the card is a drug called burundanga that is used to incapacitate a victim to steal from or take advantage of them.

Yes, there is such a thing as burundanga

What IS true is that there IS such a drug as burundanga…it IS extremely dangerous, but actual cases of it being used seem to be confined to regions in and around Colombia, South America. The U-S government has warned travelers to South America about such drugs for years.

However, our sources say there have been no known cases of the drug showing up in the United States.

By the way, burundanga doesn’t have an odor, so you wouldn’t be noticing strong fumes. Typically the drug is NOT put on a business card, but slipped into a drink or some food.

Clearing up another Internet rumor, this is Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop...reminding you to check it out BEFORE you hit that "send" button!

NOTE: This feature is now airing as "Cindy Swanson, CyberSleuth" on the radio in Canada! I share my internet sleuthing to de-bunk or confirm e-mail rumors with Beth Warden on ShineFM.com