I will never own a Rolex watch. The sort of person who does has a few more zeroes on the end of their salary. However, I've seen quite a few. Well, I've seen a number of watches with Rolex printed on them. I hear there are three ways to tell the difference between a real and a fake. Firstly, the second hand should move smoothly and not stop every second. Secondly, it should feel heavier than the average watch (it's made of precious metals rather than stainless steel and plastic). Thirdly, it should cost much more than a couple of hundred pounds.

What about a fake email? Firstly, if anything asks you to enter your password 'otherwise your account will be closed', you know it's a fake. This is called phishing (the senders are trying to get personal information so that they can empty your account). Just delete it. Then there's the 419 scam. This gets its name from the law that it breaks. 'Dear Friend', it begins, 'I am the only surviving relative of the murdered Nigerian leader and I want to send some money out of the country using your bank account. I will give you ten thousand for helping me.'. An astronomical number of people believe this one. I used to reply to these with two answers, and the second one was 'off'. Now I just delete them.

Fake amber? It smells of plastic when you touch it with a hot pin. Fake coins are the wrong weight. Fake diamonds do not produce the right colours when the light shines through them, and real diamonds don't shatter into hundreds of pieces when you hit them with a hammer. Don't try that last test in a jeweller's shop, by the way.

One phrase you hear when people talk about fakes is 'the real McCoy'. This expression comes from the USA in the late 18th and early 19th century. The best whiskey came from Scotland and was made by a man called McCoy. You could tell that it has been imported because the wooden boxes were wet from all the sea water from its Atlantic crossing. The people who made the cheaper whiskey in America sometimes put the boxes in salt water so people would think they were imported as well. Connoisseurs were not tricked. One taste told them if it was 'the real McCoy'.

Glossary

salary pensja

fake imitacja

precious cenny

delete skasować

astronomical very large

amber bursztyn

to shatter roztrzaskać

Here are some more hoaxes. How can you tell that they are fake?

An archaeologist finds a coin with the date 150 B.C. on it.

Someone writes on their CV that they have worked as a pig farmer in Pakistan.

An advertisement offers you the chance to invest in a new technological breakthrough. It's an engine that doesn't use fuel but runs by perpetual motion.

KEY

The initials B.C. were not used 'Before Christ'. By the way, the secular version of B.C. is B.C.E: Before Common Era. A.D. is just C.E: Common Era.

There are no pig farms in Pakistan. It's a Muslim country where the pig is believed to be unclean.

Perpetual motion, energy from nothing, is against the laws of physics. This doesn't stop hundreds of people trying to make perpetual-motion machines, unsuccessfully.

What do people try to fake?

Across

1. Information about who you are.

6. Portable ways to tell the time.

7. Programs on computers.

8. Documents to get you from one country to another.

Down

2. The easiest way to pay for things.

3. Artwork, normally seen hanging on walls in galleries.

4. Plastic money.

5. This one isn't a crime to fake. It keeps you warm and stops you getting attacked in the street by animal-rights activists (which the real thing wouldn't).

7. Not good for your health, but most people think they are the best way to destroy your lungs in style.

KEY

Across

1 identity

6 watches

7 software

8 passports

Down

2 money

3 paintings

4 credit cards

5 fur coats