Fears of a deadly virus spreading through the mobile networks started emerging in Pakistan on Friday, April 13 (no pun intended!). As a result, the mobile phone providers in the country were bombarded with worried phone calls from subscribers worried about the deadly virus. The rumor was so effective that even some mosques in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, announced that people were being killed by a mobile virus and should fear God’s wrath. Pakistani Warid Telecom’s spokesman, Farah Hussain, said that their customer services centers have been inundated with subscribers asking about the “deadly virus”.

It is believed that the rumor was started by a prankster who sent warning messages describing the “killer virus”. As a result, the users forwarded fraudulent warning messages about the same “killer virus” at an unprecedented scale.

The mobile networks operators had to calm down the 160 million users in Pakistan by explaining them that the “deadly virus” makes absolutely no sense in technological terms.

On Monday, April 16, the rumors moved to Afghanistan while the government officials scrambled to explain the users that it’s nothing more than a prank. Many worried users phoned their friends and families and told them not to answer calls from “strange” numbers, while others said that they have heard that several people have already been killed by the “mysterious” virus.

When I read the news I started to laugh and couldn’t stop as I was reading “serious” accounts on several news agencies, including Reuters. If someone has basic knowledge about how mobile phones work, it’s obvious that they won’t ever be scared of such a prank telling them not to answer calls from “strange” numbers.