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EMAIL SCAMS & HOAXES
There is seldom a day that we don't receive at least one email, which clearly is a scam or a hoax.
Typical scams are emails that promise you vast sums of money for little effort or capital outlay. Chain letters, pyramid schemes and work-from-home letters fall in this category.
A hoax plans to deceive others into believing a fabricated item or circumstance is authentic or has actually occurred. Hoaxers often forge records, documents and objects as 'evidence' that their trickery is genuine.
When you receive an email with an alarming warning message and you are unsure of its validity, please send it to us for verification. The same goes for email petitions, get-rich schemes and so on.
Hoax messages circulate because people redistribute them to everyone that they know. This may be done with the best of intentions, but the information borne by these hoax messages is incorrect. It is in everybody's interest to stop the circulation thereof.
Here is a hoax currently doing the rounds.
Subject: Don't answer a cell phone while it's being charged
Don't answer a cellphone while it's being charged
Don't answer a cell phone while it is being CHARGED!! A few days ago, a person was recharging his cell phone at home. Just at that time a call came through and he attended to it; with the instrument still connected to the mains After a few seconds electricity flowed into the cell phone unrestrained and the person was thrown to the ground with a heavy thud.
His parents rushed into the room only to find him unconscious, with weak heartbeats and burnt fingers. He was rushed to the nearby hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival. A Cell phone is a very useful modern invention.
However, we must be aware that it can also be an instrument of death.
Never use the cell phone while it is hooked to the mains!
FORWARD THIS TO THE PEOPLE THAT MATTER IN YOUR LIFE, I JUST DID! |
This version of the message includes unrelated photographs of an exploded cell phone on a bed and the injury apparently caused to the phone user.
If an inherent risk of electrocution were present during normal battery charging, mobile phone manufacturers would ensure that customers were aware of it. They would not expose themselves to multi-million dollar legal actions by neglecting to make users aware of this potential risk. There would also be well-publicized warnings from government authorities and various consumer groups. Moreover, the media would certainly not remain silent on the issue.
This is an exerpt from the Hoax-Slayer website.
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/cell-phone-charging.html
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