Killer Sms Hoax Doing Rounds

[KumaarShah 143]

'Killer' SMS hoax doing rounds

23 Aug 2007, 0001 hrs IST,TNN

MUMBAI: On Wednesday, an SMS started doing the rounds of cellphones. It urged people not to accept calls from a few numbers listed in the message.

If a call originated from any of these numbers, the message said, it would show up on their cellphone screens in red. On taking the call, the message added, a high-frequency sound would emanate.

It could cause the brain to haemorrhage and even kill. "27 persons died just on receiving these calls from these numbers," it added for good measure.

"Inform to al your friends relatives soon," it concluded. A few TV channels fell for the hoax. That translated into breathless anchors telling their equally beady-eyed viewers what numbers not to accept calls from. The message gained credibility. In public interest, though, The Times of India bravely dialled the five numbers listed in the message.

This writer survived to tell the tale. Three numbers do not exist. But two do. Both, however, went unanswered. Chances are, those who own the numbers have stopped taking calls, exasperated by a few hundred curious bravehearts.

That said, as far as hoaxes go, this particular one has an interesting history. In June 2004, an email started doing the rounds of the internet. It claimed to be a "confidential, internal document" leaked from Nokia's headquarters and was purportedly signed by the company's CEO Jorma Ollila.

The note said: "It is my sad duty to inform you that these rumours are true." A few paragraphs of assorted rubbish later, the note ended on an ominous note.

"As far as I am concerned, the loss of life is an acceptable risk we must face, in order to sell our products and keep our business alive." The prankster who created the email was inspired by a 2002 Hollywood flick called The Ring. It didn't take much for the e-mail to find its way into the internet's Museum of Hoaxes. Still archived on technology websites like Gizmodo, the urban legend now elicits a few chuckles.

But stories, like cockroaches, don't die easy. A few months later, it resurfaced in Nigeria and spread like wildfire. A few weeks of pacifying later, life got back to normal, and the story went back to history. Two years later, it came back to life in Pakistan.

This time around, though, the message claimed 20 people had died. The Pakistani clergy took this as a sign from above. Many mosques in Karachi started to warn the faithful of God's wrath. It took a joint effort by telecom operators in Pakistan to assuage people's fears and give the story one more burial. But the story simply jumped borders and invaded Afghanistan.

An angry government quickly blamed the Taliban for stoking fear. At a press conference called by the authorities to squash the SMS, a spokesperson for Afghanistan's interior ministry said: "I find it necessary to assure people that the rumour spreading around the city is absolute nonsense. It is the work of the enemy."

While it is not known how the Taliban responded to the accusation, the story found its way to Kuwait, and is now on Indian soil.

Link Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Killer_...how/2301865.cms

He he he.

Edited August 23, 2007 by KumaarShah

[Shabz 8]

These news channel people are real *******s they do not verify anything and just give worng information to public.

This story reminds me of an old english movie "The bell" in which the villian used to ring the person who had angered him and gave electric shock thru phone line and kill the person

[Honest 836]

^^^

@shabz

I too agree with you my dear friend. In India media people only want to popularise their news channels. Instead of serving the country in the right direction, they continously repeat all these non-sense stuff throughout the day on their channels. I know that this is the duty of media people to bring the facts in front of the public but at the same time some channels itself spread rumors. Whenever their is an accident anywhere in the world, one news channel tell you 100 dead, other tell you 130, another tell you 150, dd tell you only 20 dead. So on which channel should the public believe.

PTI should also do some thing so that the news broadcasted on every channels present the facts on every channel in a uniform way, instead of different channels providing different details.

Regards.

[@ksh@T 20]

he he he me also fwd ds msg . . . .the numbers are of punjab only!

[theking 35]

This was a long time back..

I had a check with the numbers from a friend of mine in the telecom industry..

had checked the call details and records, but surprisingly, there were various calls "SESSION" of very short duration from the numbers and the outgoing call details didnt seem normal..