Egypt tries to hang up on killer SMS rumours - Yahoo! News UK
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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.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."The number begins with the symbol (+) and ends with (111)," it said.
I am, of course, assuming that SMS has not actually become a carrier to an information package of death. :-)