Nigerians Worried Phone Calls May Kill Them

from the such-a-dangerous-world dept

Mon, Jul 19th 2004 12:28pm — Mike Masnick

An urban legend is making its way around Nigeria that has many people afraid to answer their phones. Apparently, a large number of people actually believe that picking up phone calls from specific numbers will kill them immediately. A list of phone numbers is being circulated, and it must suck if you actually have one of those phone numbers. The mobile phone operators in the country have been trying to get the message out that this is untrue, but apparently it's not traveling too well (one imagines the message is not being passed along via phone calls).

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dorpus, 19 Jul 2004 @ 1:11pm

Urban nonlegends
We have a big urban legend called "self defense classes" that are popular in cities throughout the world. Truth is, plenty of attackers today have martial arts experience, and know how to foil the self-defense maneuvers.

Here's a news article the "self-defense" weapons industry doesn't want you to hear -- a 29-year-old man with a stun gun attacked an 11-year-old girl in a shopping center bathroom and scarred her stomach.

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20040718-00000119-kyodo-soci

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- Anonymous Coward, 20 Jul 2004 @ 6:25am
  
  Re: Urban nonlegends
  errr, and the connection to Nigerians and cell phones is...?
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Ed Halley, 20 Jul 2004 @ 12:24pm

No Subject Given

It's clear that Nigerians hope that the rest of the world is as gullible as they apparently are. Can we spread a rumor that sending 419-scam email messages to other countries can also kill you?
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