Deadly Virus Phone Threat Rumors Cause Panic

Mobile service providers in Pakistan have been inundated by calls from subscribers worried that they could die of a deadly virus being transmitted via their phones.

The rumor was so effective that some mosques in the country's biggest city, Karachi, made announcements that people were being killed by a mobile virus and they should be aware of God's wrath.

In a prank similar to the plot in the hit Hollywood movie "The Ring" in which people die within a week after watching a video, the prankster warned users that a deadly virus transmitted through phones had already killed 20 people.

Many worried mobile phone users called family and friends, warning them not to answer calls from strange numbers. "Don't answer any strange number because it contains a virus that will kill you," said Ahmad Fawad, a shop owner in Kabul.

There are more than 52 million mobile users among 160 million people in Pakistan.

A spokeswoman for a local company said that their customer service centers had been inundated with panicky subscribers inquiring about the so-called virus.

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