I just got a typical spam "warning" email. Dozens of email addresses clear on the "To" line ... admonition to "PASS THIS ALONG TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW" ... legitimate-sounding description of the virus ... "proof" that it's real ...

It was the last one that got me. It included the line "Snopes confirms that it is real" with a link to the Snopes page. Figured I'd see if Snopes actually confirmed it. So I clicked the link to see that yes, Snopes in fact did confirm it.

But wait -- I clicked the link to Snopes. The link in the email. I clicked the link in the email to see if it was legit. Damn. What am I, a total noob?

Everyone's got their triggers. For me, it was that I always refer my mother to Snopes when she sends me one of these things. And I include the link to the Snopes page in the email. (Because she clicks links in whatever I send her, no matter how many times I tell her not to. And I don't want to have to explain again how to copy it to the address bar.)

So here's one that already has the Snopes link. "Hey, never seen that before. Maybe this one's legit ... Wait did I just? ... Dammit."

After I realized what I'd done, I checked the source on the mail to confirm it was a straight link. IOW it was what it said on the tin.