Records hoax targets veterans.

If you receive an e-mail warning that the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) plans to destroy all paper military records, hit the delete key.

The official-looking message circulating via e-mail and on veterans-related Web sites is a hoax, according to Scott Levins, assistant director of military records at NPRC, a St. Louis-based division of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Levins recently told Federal Computer Week that the NPRC does not intend to destroy veterans' paper records as part of its digitization process, as the fake e-mail alleges. The e-mail, which carries an official-looking header reading "Destruction of Original Military Records, HQ AFR/DP/04-254" tells veterans to quickly request a copy of their records before the alleged destruction process begins. Levins said he was concerned this could lead to a flurry of requests for records by veterans to the center, which already faces a backlog of 120,000 records requests.

To debunk the hoax, NPRC officials posted a notice on the eVetRecs Web site, informing visitors that "neither the Department of Defense nor the NPRC intends to destroy any [Official Military Personnel Files] stored at the center. The purpose of any electronic scanning would be to reduce the handling of fragile records during the reference process or to reduce the time necessary to locate and answer an OMPF inquiry."