German hoax ties up Victorville dispatchers

[kd6ecz]

I was browsing some of the local news web sites and came across this article that I thought was worthy of sharing. The power of the internet never ceases to amaze me.

Calls from Germany flooded switchboards at the Victorville sheriff’s dispatch shortly after midnight Thursday, after residents overseas heard reports of a suicide bombing in BlueWater, just south of Lake Havasu.

“They had seen this Web site that showed a newscaster who said three Germans had been arrested in BlueWater for going into a restaurant with bombs strapped to their bodies,” said Arden Wiltshire, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, who was woken up at 3:30 a.m. to help sort out the hoax. “Supposedly we had apprehended them and determined the bombs were false, but they were still under arrest.”

You can read the entire article here:
German hoax ties up Victorville dispatchers | victorville, hoax, calls - Local News - Victorville Daily Press

[cousinkix1953]

Not Funny at all. This reminds me of the stupid UC Santa Cruz professor who broadcast phony reports of an earthquake in Los Angeles about 15 years ago. His little prank, on the campus radio station, resulted in a deluge of calls to 9-1-1 about an incident that never happened. CNN called the KZSC FM studios all the way from Atlanta at 6 AM. I know because a friend of mine was on the air with his early morning music program at the time.

The boneheaded professor and a student DJ were fired and expelled for this prank...

[kd6ecz]

Some people just don't think before they act I guess.

In case anyone is interested, here an article about the incident from Wired.com:

Net Hoax Convinces Germany of Fake U.S. Suicide Bombing Attempt | Threat Level | Wired.com