killer mobile phone rumour - anyone have any info about it?

Hi,

I am student in London doing a project on rumours and I was wondering if anyone in the forum has any information or experience of the Lagos rumour last year about killer numbers (i.e if you answer your phone from a certain number you might die). I'm also trying to find out if v mobile did anything to help end the rumour.

Thanks for your help!
Gem

This following funny article by 'Apostle' John Sagai Adam deals with the issue in question:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
            Do You Want To Die?
              By Sagai John Adam
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Are you tired of living?
Are you bored with life?
Nigerians have created a new way to die.
Just call any of the Killer GSM numbers below.



-------------- [  ] ---------------

      THE LOGIC-DEFYING TALES

COUNTRY: Nigeria
TIME:    The past 3 weeks in July 2004...

1. Some people have been reported to have 
suddenly become ill (with blood oozing out 
of their ears), fainted, and <GULP> even 
slumped dead, JUST BY RECEIVING CALLS 
ON THEIR CELLPHONES.

2. These series of "incidences" have received 
a lot of attention in the print and electronic 
media.

3. Out of fear, some Nigerian have stopped 
answering calls from "unknowns" (numbers 
not stored in their phones).

4. A growing list of such "killer" numbers 
have been shown on TV. 


GSM Today has compiled the full list for you.

-----------------******---------------



Heard of 419? (a.k.a. Advance Fee Fraud)
Heard of "institutionalized" corruption?
Heard of J-J Okocha and Kanu Nwankwo?

Well, Nigeria has done it again...

The DEVIL is now a Nigerian GSM subscriber!

You can now call a satanic number and die in an instant.

Death is just one call away!



-------------- [  ] ---------------
  EVERYBODY WANTS TO GO TO HEAVEN, 
     BUT NOBODY WANTS TO DIE...

The killer GSM numbers scare is accusing 
some strange behaviour. 

For fear of death, 
>> Some have stopped using GSM Business Centres.

>> Some have stopped using their phones.

>> Some have memorized the numbers and have 
had to maintain a "RED alert" since then. 

>> Some smart souls have saved all the numbers 
in their phones with the name "EVIL".

>> Some have suggested that GSM should be banned! 

Oh dear.


Nigerians are supposed to be religious. Our 
President preaches regularly. Our churches 
are filled to the brim. We even kill each 
other in the name of God. 

Yet fear, not faith, has been the common 
reaction in the case of the satanic GSM 
numbers.  

-----------------******---------------



OSAMA VS. AMERICA 

If Osama Bin Laden gets his hand on the technology 
behind the GSM killer numbers, America is in trouble.


THE CIA VS. OSAMA 

If the CIA get the technology behind the GSM killer 
numbers, Osama Bin Laden is history.


SADDAM HUSSEIN VS. GEORGE W. BUSH 

If Saddam Hussein gets his hand on the technology 
behind the GSM killer numbers, George W. Bush is finished.


GEORGE W. BUSH VS. TERRORISTS

If George W. Bush gets his hand on the technology 
behind the GSM killer numbers, "the war on terror" 
is over.


<NAME WITHHELD> VS. ADAM OSHIOMOLE 

If a certain big, big, B I G, man in Nigeria (name withheld) 
gets his hands on the technology behind the GSM killer numbers, 
then the Nigerian Labour Congress President, Adam Oshiomole, 
won't see survive to organise any more strikes!



But, thank heavens, it seems only "satanic forces and their 
Agents" are the current owners, and only my fellow 
Nigerian compatriots are being attacked.

NIGERIANS! 
Long-suffering, 
always-suffering, 
used-to-suffering 
and now under attack by SPIRITUAL GSM TERRORISTS.



-------------- [  ] ---------------

      KILLED BY 0801 AND 0809?

Some of the GSM killer numbers are scientifically 
impossible to comprehend. The access codes of the 
4 Nigerian GSM networks are:

0802 - Vmobile
0803 - MTN 
0804 - M-Tel
0805 - Globacom Mobile 

So how come some of the killer numbers have "0801"? 
Some have "0809".

How was it switched? 
Which GSM network did it? 

Sudden Death Telecoms Nigeria Limited?
Die As You Go?
Death Mobile?
Satanic Network? 
Hell Com?

Someone said it is an indication of the very LOW 
LEVEL OF SCIENCE LITERACY IN NIGERIA. One of the 
TV stations showed a killer number that was a 
Vmobile number but had 15 digits instead of 11. 
How can that be?

>From a technical point of view these numbers 
are non-existent and shouldn't have even been 
put on screen. 

"Ah, but this is Nigeria!"
 
The Nigerian GSM networks are reaping the 
fruit of not educating their subscribers. 

After 3 years, no network has produced a single 
book, video, or TV program that educates its 
subscribers. 

(When we mean TV program, not Music, 
"HIP-Hop" shows. MTN, take note.) 

All they care about is our money.

One thing is sure: our 5 million IGNORANT GSM 
subscribers will continue to cause more havoc 
in the years to come. Every folklore, hoax, 
urban legend, myth, and tale-by-moonlight will 
find an eager and receptive audience here.

Today it is killer numbers and low-sperm count 
if you keep your phone in your trouser pocket 
(near your you-know-what.)

Tomorrow it may be something more damaging like 
reading satanic interpretations to the logos of 
the GSM networks! 

Sounds silly? Just wait.




-----------------******---------------



Your girlfriend left you.
She ran away with your best friend!
She took your cheque book, 
your gold watch, 
and 2 years of selfless love.
You are far more than "heart-broken", 
your heart was shattered to fine powder.

You want to end it all.

What luck! 
You can do it RIGHT NOW...
Death is just a phone call away!



-------------- [  ] ---------------

   THE SATANIC KILLER GSM NUMBERS

WARNING: THESE NUMBERS WILL K-I-L-L YOU

[By the way, jokes apart, 

"GSM Today", Wonderful Counselor Nigeria Limited and 
Sagai J. Adam does not assume responsibility for any 
illness, convulsion, fainting, vomiting, or even sudden 
death that may result from calling, texting, flashing, 
e-mailing or communicating with these numbers. 

YOU ARE OWN YOUR OWN.

Reading further means you have agreed to the above 
conditions.]



UNKNOWN KILLER NETWORK #1
-------------------------
0801-1100-555
0801-1113-999
0801-1119-966
0801-1122-999
0801-1123-999
0801-1129-999


VMOBILE
-------
0802-133-399
0802-2225-999
0802-3066-869
0802-3111-999
0802-3180-713
0802-3304-447
0802-5111-999


MTN
---
0803-2111-999
0803-3111-999
0803-3123-999
0803-3330-000
0803-3333-333
0803-3366-699


GLO
---
0805-5111-999



UNKNOWN KILLER NETWORK #2
-------------------------
0809-9301-11
0809-9991-113


-----------------******---------------



SAGAI JOHN ADAM DIALS THE SATANIC NUMBERS

Hello?
Hello?

Uh! Ah! Oh! Haaaaaaaa!
Oh my God...I must...I must...
Be...dead....?


-----


Is this heaven?
Silly question...since it is not hot...so...it can't be hell


-----


Wow!
Yippee! I made it!


But where is Father Abraham?



-----



Free at last!
I am free at last!

No more fuel price increases.


No more buying GSM recharge cards.


No more Anopheles mosquitoes.


No more going to the toilet.


Oh happy day! NO MORE TOILET.
  


-----



Okay, now what?


How do I finish my article, and send it out?
Are there CyberCafe's in heaven?

Where can I borrow a computer?

Oh Nigerians! Even in heaven I am still thinking of "borrowing".

P-O-V-E-R-T-Y  M-E-N-T-A-L-I-T-Y

:-)



-----



Do they use GSM phones here?
Oh my God! My new camphone didn't follow me up here!



-----




I hear there is no marriage here.


And no relationship with the opposite sex.

Died a bachelor...
...And now to live FOREVER as a bachelor in heaven?

This is not FAIR...oops!

(I hope God didn't hear that! 

GMC  [Grumbling, Murmuring and complaining] 
may not be allowed here o!)



-----




Are you still reading this?
Please stop...I am dead.



-----









-----







Still reading?
Shame on you! 
You should be mourning...





-----






The only way to handle you is to stop writing.

That's it, I am done.

I must go check out my Mansion...it had better be worth 
the wait o!

A mansion with no woman to share it with...

Its not fair.  O O O O O P S!

---

- GSM Today Ezine Volume 3 Issue 31 July 2004

[list][li]The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators in Nigeria (ALTON) has described the growing fears over certain GSM numbers associated with death, as a "complete hoax, from the telecommunications engineering point of view”.

Last week, a major controversy broke out in the country, particularly in Lagos, that receivers of calls from certain GSM numbers would faint or die.[/li][/list]
"It's all a big hoax" [by Sola Fanawopo Monday, July 26, 2004]

[list][li]A new Nigerian movie titled 'Abuja Lowo Wa' is currently being shot to unravel the genesis of the rumour ... the film will shock Nigerians when they realise that the rumour started from a mere failed business call received by an Abuja-based business man.[/li][/list]Balancing Act

[list][li]A Nigerian mobile telephone firm is seeking to quash a widespread rumour that users answering calls from two "killer numbers" have been struck dead on the spot.

Over the weekend Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, was gripped by reports that calls from the numbers 0802 311 1999 and 0802 222 5999 had slain subscribers who answered them.

"This is an absolute hoax ... ignore it," Emeka Oparah, a spokesman for V-mobile, the country's second largest GSM provider, said in a statement.

"We wish to state categorically that from an engineering point of view, it is absolutely impracticable, and there is no such record whatsoever anywhere in the world, that anyone has died or can die from merely receiving or making a phone call on GSM or any other telecommunications platform", it said.[/li][/list]
Smh

I hope I've helped to answer this question a little bit. I'd like to invite other members of this forum to tell gem whatever they can remember about the "killer GSM" rumor.

haha Seun. I love the write up. Well the man is funny.

Nigeria is making my stomach turn. Killer number? ?

hi love,this was one of those rumours dat wasn't backed up by even a pinch of truth or was it...

Not one pinch of truth in it, I'm afraid.  Nobody even died.

Seun did you call any of the numbers?

Seun, why don't you try calling the numbers

I remember secondary school in Lagos and at times there would be rumors that if somebody touches you, your private part would go missing . Nobody saw someone with vanished organs, but of course as Nigerians, if you touch someone on the bus or on the road and the person shouts, them go don beat you die b4 anybody will say, wait let us see the dissappeared organ.

Pity really.Defies all logic. But then so do all things in Naija

NIgerians make me laugh. What about the[i] "if you pick money that you found on the ground, you'll turn to a goat" [/i]own? I picked alot of money on the ground durring that time, and here i am, a whole human.

Hot-angel, you better thank your God that you didn't get used for pepper soup.
This is Nija where so many people are desperate to make money and would do anything to get political power. These things happen and they are real, there are lots of babalawos in Nija and many desperate people use fetish means to achieve their aims so beware!

There are many shrines, cults, brotherhood and the likes allover Nija so I aint disputing the killer GSM rumour, it might just be true...

I know someone in USA that was remote controlled or bluetoothed from Nija tru fetish means... better believe!

Thanks guys, I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my request! Does anyone know if 'Abuja Lowo Wa' was actually made.

Love
Gem

@ hot_angel did u say u picked a lot of money. i will be seeing u very soon. so na u de grab all the money wey i lose

hahahaha..... You make me laugh emmlaura.

I remember a time I went to Computer Village, they rushed one guy past me into a Taxi, probably to the hospital. They said he answered a call and fainted. I was not there when he answered the call so I don't know exactly what happened or if it's true. But people started saying he received a call from Killer number. There was no blood in his mouth. He was just unconscious. I don't know what happened after then.

hot-angel:

Seun did you call any of the numbers?

mamba:

Seun, why don't you try calling the numbers

See. . . ? Bad advice    Since you asked Seun to call the number, no one has seen him. How on earth could you ask our beloved administrator to kpai himself by linking up with one of those networks?   

Phew!! Okay, relax. I was wired up to another thread where he appears hale and heartily doing his job.

i remember when this happened, long time ago no evidence to back them up my cousin called some of those numbers nothing happened. People were even afraid to pick up international phone calls

believe it or nt 85% of nigerians believed in that killer numbr stuff, am nt saying am part of dat percent bt because of da high rate illteracy in da country. I thank GOD that no one i knw experienced it sha,

Amen!

lol,

@ All

I want someone to tell me, this is not a joke.

Somebody just text me on that.

Guy, all these gimmicks are always generated by sales representatives of GSM companies in order to meet their targets in 'bad months'. There are some they send telling you of people that were blessed by forwarding to 10 people and people that died who deleted and didnt forward the text. if you look at such texts some are up to 5 texts in 1. Imagine sending 5 paged text to 10 people. Minimum you will spend is N500. Because nigerians are vulnerable, people now resort to loading their phones to obey.

For the socalled killer numbers, it is always started by the sales representatives of the older GSM companies in Nigeria. They know that being the older companies most of the numbers people have are from their network and they know that people will end up not picking numbers they do not have stored on their phones. Hence new entrants into the market may have issues because people will now be forced to resort to using their old numbers to call which will favour the older networks,

i suspect that this new case of killer numbers is started by MTN. This is because Etisalat and Glo have taken most of their customers. of course people are buying etisalat and glo so well these days. Coincidentally people that informed me today of the killer numbers are all MTN staff.

sham!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rubbish!

this is what you get for insulting the president's wife. I am sorry for you guys.