"Your relatives are dead" - fake tidal wave email
Discussion
What sort of a f
king freak would do this!!
king freak would do this!! BBC News Article said:
Man charged over tsunami e-mails
The government would not inform relatives via e-mail, police say
A man has been charged in connection with hoax e-mails which were sent to relatives of people missing following the Asian tsunami.
The 40-year-old man, who was arrested on New Year's Eve, was charged on Sunday with malicious communication and causing a public nuisance.
The man, from Lincolnshire, will appear at Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court on Monday, Met Police said.
E-mails had been sent to relatives of missing Britons saying they were dead.
Relatives had been posting appeals for help on a Sky News website message board.
The government has stressed that relatives would not be informed of a death by e-mail.
The police have urged anyone wanting information about friends, relatives and loved ones to continue using the Foreign Office emergency number on 020 7008 0000.
The number is only for people in the UK who are concerned about the welfare of UK nationals they believe may have been in the affected areas, and not for those seeking travel advice.
srebbe64 said:
Is it just me, or is there something acually "perverted" about this hoax. Put it this way, I wouldn't let someone like that babysit. To my mind, lock him up and throw away the key!
And what sort of attention was he exactly expecting? Surely people would realise it was a hoax after a while and then...
W
What sort of twat sends an email, from his own email address I presume? dumb mf. Probably another chav from the same estate where all the riots were about ten years ago.
Theres
all to do in Lincolnshire unless you work on the land. Other than that its life on the social and selling drugs for most younhsters. If they send him down he would probably be grateful.
Theres definately something wrong with someone that does that - it's not normal its mentally unballanced.
Theres
all to do in Lincolnshire unless you work on the land. Other than that its life on the social and selling drugs for most younhsters. If they send him down he would probably be grateful. Theres definately something wrong with someone that does that - it's not normal its mentally unballanced.
latest news said:
"He does remember sending emails, but he obviously wasn't in clear thought at the time."
Erm... not clear thought?! When my thoughts are not clear I tend to forget to pick up some milk at the supermarket or fail to cover up the motorcycle before it rains. i DO NOT send out malicious e-mails!!!!!
>> Edited by gh0st on Monday 3rd January 15:28
Shame that England comes up trumps again. We have the absolute twit sending hoax emails left right and centre and then we have the government giving 50p.
Anyone actually going to start doing anything constructive in this country? The public are the only ones doing something AFAIK.
Does make you wonder how you could ever be proud, really.
Anyone actually going to start doing anything constructive in this country? The public are the only ones doing something AFAIK.
Does make you wonder how you could ever be proud, really.
MimiB said:England has only one problem: people tend to see the state of the nation too pessimistic.
Shame that England comes up trumps again. We have the absolute twit sending hoax emails left right and centre and then we have the government giving 50p.
Anyone actually going to start doing anything constructive in this country? The public are the only ones doing something AFAIK.
Does make you wonder how you could ever be proud, really.
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I've just read on the BBC news WAP portal that the bloke in question has just been sent down for 6 months. Hurrah! 
Edit: Full report also on the BBC Web site (reproduced below)
>> Edited by JonRB on Monday 24th January 14:56
Edit: Full report also on the BBC Web site (reproduced below)
BBC said:(Source: BBC News)
Man jailed over tsunami e-mails
A man who sent out hoax e-mails falsely telling people their holidaying relatives had been killed by the Asian tsunami has been jailed for six months.
Christopher Pierson, 40, from Ruskington, Lincs, sent 35 e-mails after seeing pleas for information on the Sky News website.
His solicitor said a bereavement and the pressure of looking after his seriously ill son caused a breakdown.
One victim said: "The suffering that e-mail caused I cannot explain.".
Pierson, who was arrested on New Year's Eve, cried as the court heard how he had set up the bogus e-mail account and falsely announced the deaths.
He gathered the details of worried relatives from the Sky news website, where addresses had been posted in a bid for information.
The e-mails purported to be official messages from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Appearing at Bow Street Magistrates he admitted one count of public nuisance and a charge under Section One of the Malicious Communications Act.
He called the offence "a moment of madness" and asked for leniency for his family.
The court heard Pierson had suffered for 13 years after the stillbirth of his first child in 1991.
His uncle had also died just days before Christmas and another son had been taken seriously ill.
His solicitor Andrew McArthur said on top of caring for his diabetic son, Pierson was looking after his mother who was suffering breast cancer, his father who had a stroke and his aunt who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
"He somehow saw that by sending these emails he was providing some sort of closure to the relatives and families to those people who may have been killed due to the tsunami."
But the magistrates told Pierson the "emotional hell" he had put people through was "indescribable" and the offence showed an element of planning.
A statement from one recipient read: "The suffering that that e-mail caused I cannot explain - not knowing who was telling the truth, it was such a cruel thing to do.
"I hope the person who did this will never know the suffering they have caused and will be punished."
Scotland Yard was forced to set up an incident room and spent ten days trying to contact those families and friends affected - at a cost of £10,000.
>> Edited by JonRB on Monday 24th January 14:56
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