ISSUE NO. 2010010042 Privacy, Probity and Public interest
Could September 1 be the new fools’ day?
Ronnel N Onchagwa tried to understand the rumour that never was and now he breaks it down for us
A rumour that hit the rounds on Tuesday evening and all day Wednesday , cautioning people against answering unfamiliar calls for fear of death, caused a great deal of panic in campus and yonder.
Forwarded emails and text messages warned mobile phone users not to accept calls from certain numbers which allegedly transmit high frequency signals causing brain hemorrhage and death. This caused widespread anxiety with many people refusing to answer their phone calls, some switching them off and others throwing them away in extreme cases.
The email/text message The messages read in part:
FW: Number za shetani I don’t know how true this is but just take precaution. Please do not attend to any calls from the following numbers:
*7888308001* *9316048121* *9876266211**9888854137* *9876715587*
These numbers come in red colours or green. You may get brain hemorrhage due to high frequency. 27 people just died receiving calls. Watch the news to confirm. Please inform all your relatives and friends soon it’s urgent.’
Explanation: More ‘scientific explanations’ were offered to the effect that, some mobile bases send out massive quantities of electromagnetic energy, which resonates from the mobile phone’s antennae. As the user answers his phone, the energy surges into his body resulting in both coronary heart failure and brain hemorrhage. This is generally followed by severe external bleeding and rapid death.
The most bizarre message claimed that the phone calls, if listened to could also trigger impotence in men and pregnancy in women.
The recommended action was to neither receive nor reject strange calls but ignore them totally and completely.
According to media reports, variants of the so called “red number” or ” death call” hoax first appeared on April 13th2007 in Pakistan. There was however an earlier version that was reported in Nigeria in 2004 and Egypt in 2006. The latest one only hit Kenya.
A hoax by any definition: In an effort to quell the hysteria, government officials and service providers issued statements disapproving the rumours that have since subsided. The communications commission of Kenya released a press statement terming the rumours completely unsubstantiated and that they had no technological evidence to support them. According to telecommunications engineers, cell phones are incapable of emitting sound frequencies that could cause immediate physical injury or death.
A publication of Moi University School of Information Sciences-Media Group
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