Egypt tries to hang up on killer SMS rumours - Yahoo! News UK

Found via Warren Ellis:

The AFP is reporting a story in which the Egyptian government is struggling to dispel a widespread rumor of an SMS "from unknown foreign quarters" that kills. The rumor was picked up and reported (apparently as fact, unless I am reading this incorrectly) by the Egyptian Gazette. From the article:

"He died vomiting blood,followed by stroke, shortly after he received a message from an unknownphone [sic] number," the Egyptian Gazette reported on Wednesday.

"The number begins with the symbol (+) and ends with (111)," it said.

People always seem to buy into audacity, even when it contradicts reason. The bigger the lie, the more effective it seems to be. This is a classic example of that.

I am, of course, assuming that SMS has not actually become a carrier to an information package of death. :-)