Pranksters dial i-mode crazy

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.mainichi.co.jp/english/news/archive/200007/21/news05.html

Friday, July 21, 2000

By Kotaro Yamada and Ken Aoshima
Mainichi Shimbun

FUKUOKA - Pranksters taking advantage of NTT DoCoMo's i-mode
mobile-phone services are causing police headaches by sending e-mail
messages that link respondents directly to emergency numbers, the
Mainichi has learned.

Police said two prank messages were being sent to i-mode cell phones,
which have the ability to receive e-mail, and link users to Internet
sites and telephone numbers.

The first message claims to be a psychological test, which asks, "Your
girlfriend, who has a slight cold, has drunk only half of a cup of
coffee. Do you drink the remainder?" When receivers of the message
choose "yes," they are linked directly to the police emergency number,
110.

A second message contains a link to an Internet home page. When the
page is opened, a bomb mark appears with the message, "those with
courage please click here." When visitors to the site click on the
bomb mark, they are automatically connected to the emergency number.

Police said that from the end of June, the number of mistaken
emergency calls in which people apologize and then hang up has soared.

The Fukuoka Prefectural Police are receiving over 200 such calls per
day with some 420 calls reported on July 6 alone, police said. They
say the calls are hindering their duties and possibly slowing their
reaction times to emergencies.

"There is a possibility that our response to incidents and mishaps
will be delayed," a spokesman said. Police usually receive about 1,550
calls per day.

An NTT DoCoMo spokesman said that the company was trying to pull the
plug on the prank messages.

"There seems to have been a nationwide epidemic of the messages from
the end of June. We are contacting subscribers in an effort to
eliminate these and other prank messages," the spokesman said.

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