Posted on 07/19/2004 1:11:25 PM PDT by HAL9000
Rumour of the "portable killer": an operator Nigerian calms the users
An operator Nigerian of portable telephones decided Monday to attack the rumour of the "telephone killer" which has been spread in Nigeria for a few days.
This rumour wants that a person dies immediately after having received a call of several identified telephone numbers. The company indexes two of them: 0802 311 1999 and 0802 222 5999.
"It is a hoax... it should be been unaware of", declared the spokesman of V-mobile, the second operator of portable telephones of the country, Emeka Oparah, in an official statement.
"We wish to affirm in a categorical way that from a technical point of view, this is absolutely impossible, and there never was, in the world, of case where somebody died simply while receiving or while passing a telephone call, of a portable or other", continues the spokesman.
The first of the numbers is that of a portable recorded at V-mobile, underlined Mr. Oparah.
The AFP composed these two numbers but did not manage to obtain an answer. It was not possible to know if that were ascribable with the bad network or if these lines had been cut.
Newspapers and radios advised with the Nigerians not to answer if these numbers were posted on their portable.
Monday, a listener of a radio of Lagos told, during an emission on line, that one of its neighbors had received a telephone call coming from one of these numbers and had died the following day. The police force indicated that it was about a hoax.
"We inquire to find the source of the rumour. Us should arrive there very quickly ", indicated the spokesman of the national police force, Chris Olakpe.
Yep, the disconnected countries, are really disconnected.
SEVEN DAYS.
Another Nigerian thing that doesn't deliver on its promises.
867-530 aaahrrrrgggggg
Remember when you were in junior high school and you and your friends said "wouldn't it be great if WE could run a country?"
Nigeria. Some junior high kids finally got control of a country.
I thought only Mossad did the cell phone kills. Was I wrong?
Reminds me of the cell phone bomb that killed Yihye Ayash a couple of years ago...now THAT'S a phone call that will kill you! :-)
Pop Rocks + Coke= DEATH!
Oh gosh! Pop Rocks! I had almost forgotten about them... a friend of mine back in Jr. High school killed his hamster with the stuff....ug... He didn't know. That was also about the time microwave ovens were just becoming attainable for "normal" people. ...and yes....we exploded eggs, chestnuts, grapes, oranges....and many other things until Mom caught on and put the "smack down" on us. :-) She wasn't NEARLY as amused as we were. :-)
"The first of the numbers is that of a portable recorded at V-mobile underlined Mr. Oparah."
Now if you'll place a pair of underwear on your head and send us your bank account number, we will protect you from Mr. Oparah
Wasn't there a movie like this? Oh, wait, that was a video tape. Oh well I bet this will be a movie too..
they have cell phones in Nigeria??
who would be stupid enough to believe this kind of stuff...
hold on, my cell phone is ringing...ill be right back
..hello?..no!!! NOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo arggg!!!
Brought to you by the same country that claims if you rape an infant baby it will cure your Aids.
Bzzzt ... Land Shark!
I should have be been aware..
Im in my early thirties and did not have a Microwave growing up.(True Story) My Mom just did not need one. I got my parents a Microwave in '98 for Christmas and they still thank me to this day.....
Panic at Nigerian 'killer calls'
Nigerian mobile phone users have been anxiously checking who is calling them before answering them in recent days.
A rumour has spread rapidly in the commercial capital, Lagos, that if one answers calls from certain "killer numbers" then one will die immediately.
A BBC reporter says experts and mobile phone operators have been reassuring the public via the media that death cannot result from receiving a call.
He says that in such a superstitious country unfounded rumours are common.
A list of alleged killer numbers has been circulated but no-one is reported to have died from answering the phone.
The BBC's reporter in Lagos, Sola Odunfa, says that the current scare story is reminiscent of a rumour that spread a few years ago that a handshake could cause sexual organs to disappear.
That rumour turned to tragedy as mobs rounded on people accused of making organs disappear.
Despite the massive public interest, no-one was found to have lost their organs.
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