Monday, February 16, 2009

"Urgent" SMSes -- Genuine Or ....

This morning, I received two text messages about separate cases of a car-jacking and "abduction" of a child.

Have you received them?

In both sms-es, there were mobile phone numbers given.

Here are the messages:

1`. Plz fwd this msg:1 car NISSAN SENTRA white colour WPL 6644,10.20am at tmn maluri, D'Alamanda Condo. kidnap a 8yrs old girl name shirley, anyone see this car plz report to the police.from: shirley's mother+60122892866

2. Pls help 2 blast out this sms asap. A car was stolen by an Indian in Taman Berkeley, Klang early morning on 16 feb. A small boy aged 6 yrs old was inside the car. If u c a meroon Proton Wira JFA 4552, pls call Mr Foo at 0196555174/0122838371 or the nearest police station. It is the kid who must be in fear now, that matters. Your immediate sms blast is very much appreciated.

What did you do when you got those messages? Did as you were told? Forwarded the messages to as many people?

Our reaction would be to do just that.

Hold on for a while. There were phone numbers given, weren't there?
So before we start forwarding the messages, we should perhaps check their validity/authenticity. Just in case, you know.

I was about to do just that when my colleague told me that the first one was a hoax. He tried to call Shirley's mother but could not get through, so he texted her. She responded and told him not to spread the sms because it's a hoax.

I suppose it means that she was not the one who sent out the sms. I've sent her a text message asking whether she knew who the sender was.

I quickly tried calling Mr Foo to check out the authenticity of the sms but could not get through. The Taman Berkeley story about the missing car and child is not a hoax because it was in the papers.

Still, I wanted to find out from Mr Foo whether he knew anything about the sms. Just as I was doing that, I received an NST alert to say that the car and child had been found. Well, thank Allah for that.

Malaysians are very caring. It is good that we are ready to help in these cases, especially when children are involved.

If those messages were genuine, then they would go a long way to helping find the stolen cars and abducted children.

If they were not, then, really, Shirley's mother or an innocent person driving the car in question, could get seriously hurt if and when the vehicle was spotted by "well-meaning" people.

I suppose the next time we get this kind of sms and if there is (usually there is) a phone number given, we should try calling (or smsing) that number to verify before blasting it to your friends. Doesn't hurt to do that.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi. I'm just notifying you that the child has been found, according to http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/937535!

Hui Lin said...

Thanks for informing us all about this hoax! I also received the sms about Shirley this morning.

Anonymous said...

Apa yang boleh kamu lakukan apabila kaum sejenis kamu diperkota katikkan?

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/2/16/nation/20090216115814&sec=nation

Anonymous said...

malaysians are very caring !? hahaha,
why then the tukang gigi so happy about eliz wong ? wait till his bini & daughters's turn then he will CRY ....!!

selampit said...

Bunch of sickos and wackos! If they are that bored with nothing significant to do, then I'd suggest they fly to Africa to babysit WILD adult male Gorillas.

They think it's funny when children get kidnapped. They think it's hilarious that children go missing. I do hope they'd laugh themselves to death and shit in their pants while at it.

MAY THEY ROT IN HELL!

The same goes to the asshole that snapped Elizabeth Wong's naked photos and publish them on the internet. I'm no fan of Pakatan Rakyat, BUT THIS IS BEYOND POLITICS.

You DO NOT treat women THAT WAY! This is outright UNCIVILIZED. I hope the perpetrators would be caught soon, and I would not object if PDRM would strip them and put them on display at Dataran Merdeka.

What is happening to our society? Instead of values compassion, mercy and love, there are shitheads out there who enjoy the bitter tastes of sadism and plain evil.

God help us all..

Quantum Metal Consultant said...

Posting yang menarik ketika ramai pelayar sebok dengan berita politik.

Kehilangan anak kecil tidak sepenting gambar bogel wakil rakyat.

Apapun pasti ada yang prihatin.

Anonymous said...

I think, such messages should come from the police. anyone who losta car or witnessed a robbery/theft should first send details to the police and the police should issue the APB through smses. Then you could ensure there was no malicious intent...

ChengHo said...

why avoiding, the hot topic is invasion of privacy for Eli naked photo??

Apocryphalist said...

Nuraina,

There is one other possibility, and for this we have to ask ourselves: who benefits from all these…. hoaxes, if indeed they ever are? The answer:- The Telcos!

Why not? There are BILLIONS of sms’es exchanged every week amongst Malaysians and at the current rate of … what, 3, 5 sen each? Sms activities alone could pay for the financing of towers shaped like some bamboo shoots or any buildings close to the vicinity of KLCC.

Do you remember each time nearing festive seasons how the Gong Xi Fa Chai or Deepavali greetings get longer and longer each year? I used to receive ucapan Selamat Hari Raya consisting of 4 continous sms’es, complete with lengthy translations of Hadis and Ayat Quran some more (no abbreviations or contractions) ! And best thing is, they expect us to RETURN those greetings back, if possible with equal length and verbiage. And sometimes you don’t even KNOW who sent these well-meaning greetings to you at all!

And here’s the topper of it all:
“Sheikh something something bermimpi Rasulullah di tepi Kaabah and baginda berpesan something something. And PLEASE send this sms to 10 others. If not, your business will falter, your wife will run away with the vilage roti canai seller or certain parts of your anatomy will tanggal and putus. Tun Datu Mustapha ignored this message and look what happened to him NOW”.

It’s time someone, somewhere, somehow investigate this seemingly harmless-but-money-guzzling ploys.

Apocryphalist

Anonymous said...

Yay! For Malaysians!!

We care not only about food and the malaysia mega sale.. LOL. Kan Aunty Ena??

I would reacted the same way too!
I would call to verify and if it's true.. I would blast the damn SMS all over the country.

Sigh..

I worry for my younger cousins. They're like chi-kens in the woods with the big bad wolf around to nab them at any time...

May Allah protect them and all the other young children..

sick and tired

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

selampit,

i decided to not blog about eli because she is a friend. her story is already out in the media and some blogs. let them knock themselves out writing about her. i was not about to do it.

i took that liberty because, well, this is my blog. Eli is a wonderful and caring person.
i am so sorry that this is happening to her.

the less said the better. i am glad that she has met with the police about the photos.

you know what, selampit. i hate to tell you but this is all about politics.

they say politics is not dirty but politicians are. i used to agree. i don't. well, not entirely.
as i see it, politics is dirty.

eli is (now) a politician. well, if ever there was a "clean" politician, Eli is one. She was an asset to PKR during the general election and i believe she still is. I have a lot of regard for her.

eli has been betrayed by someone she knows.
i wish her the best. She is a strong woman and i am confident she'll surmount this challenge.

Jonathan Bebe said...

Hi
I also got it and cringed hearing it... Not again as based on past experience a friend of my faced a similar situation of his car got hijacked and the sms did help recover it even though a week to late. So i won't be quick to dismiss it if I got the sms from someone reliable. It's not about winning money, it's about saving lives. Anyway the sms came out to be true

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

apocryphalist,

you know, that is something we've always wondered. particularly the festive greetings that we get.

our suspicions are certainly not unfounded.

Anonymous said...

same goes to forwarded emails.... if we just reforward it to everyone we know, someone, some businesess might be hurt.

thanks