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E-Mail Hoax Uncovered

By Newsradio 88 Staff

You know how fast rumors can travel. And when they start travelling on the internet, anything can happen. Someone made up a story about a bizarre crime ring preying upon business travellers and sent it out by e-mail. It has caused quite a stir at some big companies.

WCBS Reporter Fred Fishkin says the e-mail details how business travellers were being drugged at lounges in major cities, awakening in hotel bathtubs with their kidneys removed. The letter says it has been happening in New Orleans, where Police Lieutenant Marlon Defillo tells us the hoax has a lot of companies worried.

The e-mail warning was written under the name of Jerry Mayfield, an engineer with Compaq Computer in Houston, and it includes his office phone number. Mayfield says he has received calls from as far away as New Zealand. He says he has no idea how his name and number got on the e-mail, which is circulating around the world.