We know that people sometimes receive worrying emails warning them about a crime threat or a computer virus. For example, this one purportedly came from the London Ambulance Service:
If you are driving after dark and you see a car without its head-lights on, DO NOT flash your lights, DO NOT blow your horn or make ANY signals to the driver of the other car. There is a new common gang initiation ‘game’ going on the streets. The new member being initiated drives along without his headlights on until someone notices and flashes their headlights or makes some sort of other action to signal him. The gang member is now required to chase the car and shoot at or into the car in order to complete his initiation requirements.
This is a DEADLY game with us innocent the one to pay the price.
Make sure you share this information with your family, friends, and anyone else you can reach. If you have any questions or information,please call your local police department. Please take this seriously. This is not a joke.
Please pass this on to everyone you know on e-mail and in person.
It’s natural to want to pass the warning on…. and emails like this are often forwarded onto us at onlinefocus. However like most such emails, it’s NOT GENUINE. In this case the email apparently started circulating in Montana USA back in the 80s, and some people got a kick out of altering the wording to fit their city, and then passing it on…. The London Ambulance Service actually put out a denial to say that the message was not genuine, and can be ignored.
So what should you do if you receive an email like this and want to find out if it is genuine?
One way is to cut a key sentence from the email and paste it into Google or another search engine. If thsi email is circulating widely, someone’s probably already written about it online.
Another method is to check on the website www.snopes.com . This site specialises in checking whether this kind of story is true. And in fact they wrote about this particular story here.