Have you ever fell for an Internet Hoax?

the-void · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:11

Have you ever fallen for an Internet Hoax?

I have. It was 2000 and I received an email about Bonzai kittens. The email was asking me to sign up to a petition to stop this barbaric art.

http://www.petitiononline.com/bnzaikat/petition.html

Personally I was outraged at what appeared to be a website that promoted animal cruelty for commercial gain. I signed up to petition in a flash and I remember actually writing letters to various organisations to have them shut down this website. (A mirror of the original site can be found below)

http://www.shorty.com/bonsaikitten/index.html

The original website appeared to be selling the ancient art of Bonsai Kittens. They claimed they were taking kittens and putting them into ever increasing glass jars, thereby moulding the kitten into the shape of the jar. Basically turning the cat into an ornament.

There was no indication on the original website that this was a hoax. Enough people complained that the FBI investigated the owners at MIT and found that they were not in fact harming any kittens and nor were they actually selling any glass jars to put kittens in. It turned out that it was an elaborate hoax.

Unfortunately the website did get shut down in the end. I was very relived when I discovered that it turned out to be a hoax. I thought that the joke was in very poor taste. However, I still think it is a travesty that they had to shut the site down. Whatever happened to freedom of speech.

After this incident I learnt to take most things you read on the Internet with a large pinch of salt.

Haircut · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:13

The bonsai kittens outraged me as well, especially when I heard that one of the ways to make the kittens stay small was to give them dihydrogen monoxide :mad:

Rebelius · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:14

haha, I fell for one of those random "crush calculator" things a couple of months ago, I never believe things like that but do them just for a laugh when I'm bored. It tricked me and emailed someone what I'd put in

I don't know the person it emailed though, cos I'd clicked the link on one of my friends' facebook wall.

Amp34 · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:18

Haircut said:
dihydrogen monoxide

Grr the same here!

How on earth did you think that was real? Really? It's not like even the website was taking itself seriously.

Azagoth · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:19

Haircut said:
The bonsai kittens outraged me as well, especially when I heard that one of the ways to make the kittens stay small was to give them dihydrogen monoxide

cheets64 · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:20

tub girl nuff said.

the-void · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:22

Amp34 said:
How on earth did you think that was real? Really? It's not like even the website was taking itself seriously.

Human nature I believe. Once people get the bit between their teeth they become blinded to the facts. All I saw was kittens being put into jars and that was enough for me to ignore everything else on the website.

The heart often overrides the head.

Dunks · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:32

cheets64 said:
tub girl nuff said.

Internet hoax?

Psyk · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:34

I fell for the Bonsai kittens one too. I realised it was a hoax right after I'd sent an order in for one :mad:

Won't be getting that money back.

cheets64 · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:41

DunK1 said:
Internet hoax?

I was hoaxed into going on there.

daven1986 · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:43

it is "have you ever FALLEN for an internet hoax"

jesus, there are waaaay too many thread titles with completely incorrect grammar.

anyway OT, no i havent.

Rebelius · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:45

daven1986 said:
it is "have you ever FALLEN for an internet hoax"

jesus, there are waaaay too many thread titles with completely incorrect grammar.

anyway OT, no i havent.

I bet you love it when people start threads asking for "advise"?

the-void · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:46

daven1986 said:
jesus, there are waaaay too many thread titles with completely incorrect grammar.

EDIT: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9640579&postcount=1
:rolleyes:

yhack · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:46

daven1986 said:
it is "have you ever FALLEN for an internet hoax"

jesus, there are waaaay too many thread titles with completely incorrect grammar.

anyway OT, no i havent.

You crit English Language for 13502 damage.

cymatty · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:51

daven1986 said:
It is "have you ever FALLEN for an Internet hoax?"

Jesus, there are way too many thread titles with completely incorrect grammar.

Anyway OT, no I haven't.

Greenlizard0 · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:56

Not an internet hoax but one in real life actually apparently

.

On BBC3's the "Real Hustle" it told of people who set up stands in e.g. shopping malls. They hunt for you with clipboards etc, and then offer you a scratch card where people win cruises and stuff. They then have to take a down payment

for it, but of course you're just parting with your money.

That happened to me years ago when I was a bright eyed first year :/. I even got given some vouchers for drinks and went into pubs with them. Nobody accepted them of course, and i just got annoyed with all the staff that were refusing to serve me.

Jesus the penny dropped years later...

Ja (: · 4 Jul 2007 at 20:57

I fell for bonsai kittens too!

In my defence i was about 12

Dunks · 4 Jul 2007 at 21:04

greenlizard0 said:
. I even got given some vouchers for drinks and went into pubs with them. Nobody accepted them of course, and i just got annoyed with all the staff that were refusing to serve me.

Jesus the penny dropped years later...

That had to hurt

KizZ · 4 Jul 2007 at 21:14

cheets64 said:
I was hoaxed into going on there.

lol

darko · 4 Jul 2007 at 21:25

if you are stupid enough to fall for any internet hoax then you deserve to be taken to the cleaners.

419 scams for example rely on western greed to succeed. people want to get rich despite most of these scams involving defrauding poor african nations.