Hoax alert

New hoax email comes to light after the launch in the UK of a campaign involving personal emergency contact numbers

It has been a long while since VB reported on any virus hoaxes, but last month saw a new hoax email come to light after the launch in the UK of a campaign involving personal emergency contact numbers.

The campaign, which gained momentum following the London bombings of 7 July, encourages mobile phone owners to add an entry in their mobile phone contacts list entitled 'ICE' (standing for 'In Case of Emergency'), and to enter against it the number of the person they would want to be contacted in case of an emergency. Should the worst then happen, the emergency services would quickly be able to find and contact the person's next of kin.

Unfortunately the campaign is in danger of grinding to a halt thanks to the actions of hoaxers, who have taken it upon themselves to start a chain letter email urging people not to add an ICE entry to their mobile phones because, the email claims, there is a virus that will exploit it. Of course there is no such virus and the hoax achieves nothing more than to cause confusion and damage the campaign. Details of the ICE campaign can be found at http://www.icecontact.com/.

30 July 2005

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