There is no excuse for forwarding what I call friendly spam which is junk email from known contacts which appears convincing, but is actually spam. Small business owners should be cautious, or you may risk loss in credibility. In most cases the spam contains an alarming message quoted from a supposedly credible source that shocks the reader and requests that you forward this to everyone you know.

Unwittingly many small business owners forward junk email without a second thought. Did they really leave out "In God We Trust" on the new US one dollar coin? No. It's stamped on the edge of the coin not on the flat surface. Sometimes the message is an apparent windfall like this one. Will Microsoft track your chain letter email and send you $250 for each person who receives it as part of a new test? No. It's false, and impossible. There is no way they could track and collect your outgoing email recipient addresses.

The junk themes are ageless. In some cases recycled messages that circulated more than 5 years ago get sent years later in the original and identical form or with a slight revision or current twist. You can and should do something about this every time you get a message that is questionable.

My advice for everyone including small business owners is visit the Urban Legends website and do a search on key words in the topic of any email you receive begging you to forward it to everyone you know. Urban Legends at www.snopes.com is my choice for debunking false emails. They track and investigate vast numbers of email hoaxes and give detailed reports on each with either a true or false conclusion. It is extremely rare that I search a suspicious message and find out that Urban Legends determined it was not a hoax, but that happens, too.

Tip: When you do have reason to mass email a message, address the message to you or your company as the recipient as well as the sender, and then enter all your contacts in the BCC field. The BCC is like the CC (carbon copy), but it is a "blind" carbon copy which means recipients will not see the names and email addresses of everyone else in your email address book. How embarrassing it would be if your everyday contacts were sent to a spammer or someone more devious who sends people viruses.

Do your part to protect your contacts. Check out the background of stories you receive in any urgent message before participating in mass mailing. You can help avoid the problem of wasting internet bandwidth with junk. The risk to your credibility with business contacts deserves caution.

Do you avoid forwarding shocking email messages, but still receive these from known contacts? Try to be gentle when you identify a hoax, and encourage your contacts to use the search option at Urban Legends. Sorting personal and business email is enough work without unwittingly becoming a spammer.

Here's some advice for unfriendly spam. First, some offer an unsubscribe option near the bottom of the message. Never reply to be removed from their list. If you don't know them there's a good chance they will remove you after sending or selling your email address to another spammer. Your reply to unsubscribe just confirmed your email is active and current. Don't reply.

Unsolicited spam junk mail is just as frustrating as those from known contacts, yet easier to identify. There are ways to fight back. Scripts may be used to disguise your email address. View mine from my website or blog by mousing over the "email me" link in the list of links, and then in the lower address bar of your browser you can see my email address. However, it is coded such that spambots cannot read the address to harvest it and add my email information to junk email lists.

What can you do if you don't have email addresses "hidden" on your website? Ask your designer to locate a free script to "cloak" your email so it cannot be collected. That takes care of your website. You still need to monitor and control how you handle your email inbox. Share any tips or advice you learn here with your contacts that may fall victim to hoax emails, as well.

In conclusion, laws are weak because spammers are moving targets who sometimes skip from state to state, or open up shop in foreign countries with ease. Do your part to protect your small business contact information, and avoid forwarding any message before confirming the truth behind the story.

Jim Degerstrom offers small business advice based on 30 years in management, sales, and marketing, including President or General Manager of small companies in 5 states. He is proficient in website and graphic art design, and runs his online Small Business Resource Center at http://www.jimdegerstrom.com from Kissimmee FL USA.