How will we ever get rid of chain mail?

I must say I am not one who receive much chain mail, now gone digital, but when I do, I'd just smirk at my phone screen and delete it. 

I read somewhere that apparently, if you are one who frequently forward chain mail or text along, you'd end up getting a lot of it in return. 

But sometimes, when someone who is close to me send me such text, I'd run a check to confirm that it's a hoax, which it usually is, and reply with a message telling them to delete and not feed into the continuous life of the chain text, and in the mean time learning something while reading about it in snopes.com. 

Why do people send chain mails? Some do it to get people to send money them money, apparently that was what it was for when it was used for the first time (check out its history here). Some do it to get access to email addresses or phone numbers. But some just do it just for fun to see how far it will go. 

Whatever it is, when you get something suspicious, just do a search to see if you have been had. However, some are so blatantly glaring you'd know at the bat of an eye it's a hoax. 

Just ask yourself these questions, why would this person ever text you of all people asking you for money to bail him out, and even if he would, would he just send you a text?

Why would Facebook or WhatsApp send the person in the photo you are about to forward, money by how many times the photos is shared? What kind of business returns would they get? Aren't there better ways for them to perform their corporate social responsibility?

Be smart. Ignore chain mails. 

pearlie