Think before you believe.
“A text message saying fatal cosmic rays are bound to affect the Earth had fooled people in Ghana in 2010 but reappeared recently in the Philippines,” reports Philstar.com.
The report explained: “While the version that alarmed many in the African country claimed that cosmic rays would cause a deadly earthquake, a resurrected version of the hoax in the Philippines claims cosmic rays and radiation emitted from outer space would pass through mobile phones and pose fatal risks for the user.”
The message, which is in Filipino, even cites ABS-CBN weatherman “Kuya” Kim Atienza, as well as news agencies such as the BBC and CNN.
Below is a copy of the hoax message:
“Good evening! I-off mamaya ang mga cellphone natin 10:30 p.m. till 3:30 a.m. dahil sa malakas na radiation at cosmic rays, nuclear atomic. Binalita ni Kuya Kim at sa CNN and BBC sa Skycable. Delikado, namamatay daw. ‘Wag itabi ang cellphone sa pagtulog mamaya. Kindly share na lang din sa ibang friends natin. Forwarded.”
For the record, Atienza has denied reporting the statement. A simple search on the websites of BBC and CNN also don’t have any report about the so-called “cosmic rays.”
Photo from MorgueFile
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