1. Don't pass on videos you did not seek out yourself. There are several Japan earthquake videos out there, including one showing a whale thrown up on the land, that are fakes. They get you to pass them on, then when the recipient clicks through they get pop-upps asking seemingly innocent survey questions. They are in fact gathering data or worse.
2. Never give money to an email address or site that writes to you to ask for it unless you specifically signed up to get notices. Chances are the ask is a scam. If you want your money to do Good, then go find where it will do so.
3. In general, don't send people links with no explanation as to what it is for. Not even ecards. Either make the subject line very descriptive and individual or write to the person first to let them know what you are about to send them is legit.
4. Even if something looks like it came from a trusted friend, make sure before you open a link. I have gotten bad links from people who would never have sent them but were just being used by a scam artist.
The basic rules of thumb are that you never give money or information to someone who contacts you directly, and you should never put someone else in the position of deciding whether they can trust something from you.
As the phony friar said to the traveling chapman, "If you'll buy that, I have two left hands of St. Jerome I can sell you."
Trust, yes, but don't get taken for a fool.
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