I am quite sure you have received scams.
I receive many scams thru email and sms, one particular email scam I often receive says that 'hotmail is going to charge money for its services, forward this message to avoid getting charged later' or 'hotmail is running out of user names, sign this message and forward it so that your hotmail accounts will not be forfeited' I received those emails years back, and hey! I am still using hotmail for free with my same account!
Another scam email I received also so funny it says you can use a gold ring to test for lead.. lol How can gold react with lead?!
Most scams via sms have a format, most have 'Win some nonsense by typing I'm an Idiot and send to 33333' but this sms scam I especially remember on the night of the March 8 elections telling me to stop sending false sms regarding the election results, a special body is formed to take action. Please lar we got different different ways to get authentic election results wad.. any sms can be clarified via internet wad.. lol
Bellow is an article about the absurdity of scams from here entitled 'Zombie nation'
I just received this SMS:
“Pls switch OFF all ur handphone 2NITE. According to Metro TV, there will be a BIG RADIATION WAVE circulating thru the handphone towers at 11PM 2nite which is very DANGEROUS to humans. Pls inform ur friends NOT 2 keep their phones with them. Please FORWARD…”
It sounded damn fake to me. So I told the sender it was some scam la. She said her AUNTY told her she saw it on ASTRO. What the heck. So I GOOGLED it.
Apparently, on Thursday (yesterday) night, many people received similar messages, with variants such as the following:
“Please switch off all your hand phones, laptops and computers by 11pm tonite. According to Metro, a large wave of radiation will be released. Please forward.”
“smua HANDPHONE malam ini dimatikan. Menurut METRO TV, pada jam 11 malam ini akan ada gelombang radiasi yang besar yang berbahaya utk manusia. yang akan tertangkap oleh semua hp & pemancar. Beritahu yang lain/teman2 jgan taruh hp dekat kepala”
Of course many people complied, and wasted what I’m sure must’ve been a whole lotta credit altogether forwarding the stupid message to their friends.
Here’s what one of them (Zombie survivor #1 at http://starcladnight.blogspot.com/) had to say today:
So if my family were the only ones who did switch off our phones - much to my dismay, that means we are the only survivors!
Then.. if we are the only survivors… who will be reading my blog?
*GASP!* I forgot one important point!! Mutated cells means clever zombies!! And now these zombies can operate computer! And click on starcladnight.blogspot.com!! And READ!!
Some DUMB people, of course, decided not risk the consequences of being killed by GIANT RADIATION WAVES that are ‘DANGEROUS TO HUMANS’ and mutate their arms and limbs and eat their brains.
They became zombies.
Zombiefied human #1 at http://underseaserenity.blogspot.com says:
I left my handphone on, my laptop on, my computer on and I’m still alive to write this…
Wow… thanks humans for only sending me the SMS NOW. That means I’ve become a zombie too since I didn’t know about it and left my handphone on ALL NIGHT LONG.
SO WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS STORY?
- Don’t SIMPLY FORWARD messages (be it e-mail, SMS, or any other form of communication) unless you know it comes from a credible source
- Please please for the sake of credibility (or whatever little of it is left with how easy it is to spread hoaxes these days), do NOT simply quote sources like ASTRO when it’s so obvious that things like this ‘radiation wave invasion’ has not even been anywhere near CREDIBLE news sources - otherwise, we’d have heard about it.It’s irresponsible!
- THINK. Hoax sign #1 - Why isn’t this ‘big news’ on mainstream media? Hoax sign #2 - It doesn’t even say what is the cause of this wave. Come from where? Outer space ah? Hoax sign #3 - If everyone shuts off their handphones/any electronic device that can emit radiation at 11 PM tonight, that’s going be a LOT of losses for businesses everywhere. YET we’re not hearing bout this aside from informal SMSes thru personal friends.
- You are SUPPORTING the people who started this hoax if you just forward it without checking reliable sources. That makes you as irresponsible as them. An example of a reliable source would be THIS:
- Finally, for everything else, there’s GOOGLE. =P
KUALA LUMPUR: Menggemparkan! Ramai pengguna telefon bimbit mula panik berikutan penyebaran SMS yang meminta orang ramai berhati-hati dengan panggilan santau atau ‘tarik nyawa’ yang kononnya boleh membunuh mereka sejurus menjawab panggilan itu.
Lebih menakutkan apabila kandungan SMS itu mendakwa panggilan maut itu sudah meragut sembilan nyawa di Indonesia sejak bulan lalu dan kini mula menular kepada jutaan pengguna telefon di negara ini bagi menagih korban terbaru.
Siasatan dilakukan pihak berkuasa Indonesia mendapati nombor pengirim SMS itu berasal dari Sumatera Selatan dan Kepulauan Riau, Indonesia.
Susulan maklumat dikumpulkan, seorang remaja perempuan yang disyaki mencipta dan menghantar SMS terbabit sudah ditahan minggu lalu oleh polis Indonesia di Riau.
Selepas disoal siasat, remaja terbabit mengaku menyebarkan SMS itu hanya untuk gurauan kepada rakannya.
GOSH. I just wasted half an hour typing out this lame post. Maybe I HAVE been zombified after all. I feel my brains turning to mush.
