"A Hollywood film company is going to release a film about the sex life of Jesus..."
"The Taleban are abusing women: We need UN Intervention..."
"Microsoft are warning that there is a new, unstoppable virus called 'Wobbler'..."
"The FBI are concerned at a new internet worm called 'Rabbit'..."

These are typical of the sorts of things that come through the internet: Someone has a bright idea to annoy lots of others and then they see if they can get it to spread.

How can you recognise them? Read them carefully! For example:

a. If it's a petition, is there somewhere to send it when it's got millions of signatures? Does it have an end date (return by...).
b. If it's a virus warning, check with anti-virus software makers. Many of them (eg McAfee, Norton) have databases of all the hoaxes so you can check if you've got one.
c. Are you advised to send the email to everyone you know... that's a bad sign.
d. Is there a deal that looks unbelievably good? Don't believe it- you might not get your copy of Microsoft Office at all, or if you do it will probably be a fake. If you are "lucky" it will be genuine but stolen...