On the Internet, A Sea of Suckers

I was alarmed. After all, identity theft is on the rise. Recent surveys estimate that nearly 10 million consumers are victimized by some form of identity theft each year, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Identity theft occurs when your personal information is stolen and used without your knowledge to make purchases or commit crimes. It can cost you a lot of time and money to clear your name if you are a victim of identity theft.

I was worried that out there in some trash can was a plastic hotel key I had discarded with my personal information.

Turns out this, too, is not true.

These cards do not supply guests' personal information such as credit card number, home address or e-mail address, according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, which put out a statement to try to dispel this myth.

"On most hotel key cards, there is an encoder system with numbers only," explained Victor Glover, senior vice president of safety and security for Accor North America and chair of the association's Loss Prevention Committee.

Glover further explained, "The number represents the date and time a guest checks in and out. Once that date and time have passed, the key is no longer active. The magnetic strip on the back of the card carries the encoder numbers that will correspond to the strips in the door itself. The activation of the key card is solely based on how long a guest is staying, not credit card, Social Security and other personal information."

Okay, so I was a sucker. But this particular e-mail sounded so plausible.

If you are curious about a suspicious e-mail, there is nothing wrong with checking it out. Try this Web site: http://www.snopes.com/ . In fact, the Microsoft/AOL money giveaway is No. 2 on the site's "25 Hottest Urban Legends" list.

What you should never do is forward these e-mails. And if you do, don't think it's a harmless action.

Here's the note I got along with the e-mail promoting the bogus Microsoft giveaway -- "Sorry about the mail of this sort, but maybe we can benefit from this . . . who knows? Try it yourself, what can you lose?"

Folks, in the end somebody could lose. Forwarding these e-mails could result in many of your friends, co-workers or family members ending up on spam e-mail lists. That, in turn, could increase the amount of junk mail they get. And that might lead to somebody becoming a sucker who loses some real money.

Researcher Tara S. Prasad contributed to this column.

· On the air: Michelle Singletary discusses personal finance Tuesdays on NPR's "Day to Day" program and online athttp://www.npr.org.

· By mail: Readers can write to her at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

· By e-mail:singletarym@washpost.com.

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