Telephone subscribers in the country want the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to address the incessant fabricated Short Message Service (SMS) making the rounds. Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, President, National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS), said in a statement on Thursday, in Lagos, that such bogus text messages constituted a serious menace to the society. Ogunbanjo recalled that in July, some subscribers sent text messages warning the public against using fingernails to scratch off the coating on recharge cards, claiming that the coating contained a substance called ''Silver Nitro oxide'' that could cause skin cancer. He added that on Aug. 15, some subscribers also sent messages warning the public to switch off their phones, alleging that cosmic rays from Planet Mars to the Earth might adversely affect people. The NATCOMS president said that upon receiving these text messages, the association consulted and researched widely but could not find any fact substantiating the claims. He subsequently urged the telecommunications industry to investigate the matter further. ''The information in the warning message is untrue because the coating on scratch tickets is made of specialised latex inks. “There are no credible references to a compound called ''Silver Nitro oxide”, and there are no credible medical or scientific reports that suggest that scratch ticket coating has been linked to skin cancer. ''Also, there are no credible references to any organisation known as the 'Medical Research Authority of the U.S. The warning is a hoax and should not be forwarded,'' Ogunbanjo said. The NATCOMS president explained that the coating used on scratch cards or tickets were created from specialised latex or Ultra Violet (UV) inks. According to him, people in different countries use scratch cards or tickets, oftentimes using their fingernails to do the scratching. ''Thus, this supposed health warning is nothing more than one more sad bit of utterly pointless Internet junk and certainly should not be reposted. This is becoming very worrisome and a serious concern to the telecommunications industry,’’ Ogunbanjo said. He stressed that the NCC must evolve a framework to address control the problem which he described as an emerging menace. (NAN)
www.leadership.ng/nga/articles/33769/2012/08/30/subscribers_want_ncc_check_upsurge_fabricated_sms.html