Abu Dhabi Police called upon Blackberry Messenger (BBM) users not to click on a link which would dial 999, the number dedicated by the police for receiving emergency calls.
The link is embedded in a message that has originated from some user’s set and has been widely circulated by thousands of Blackberry users. In just five hours, the Operations Room received 13338 emergency calls only five percent of which were authentic from users who clicked on the link, according to Colonel Saeed Obaid Al Naqbi, Deputy Operation room director at Abu Dhabi Police.
The Arabic text message that was circulated reads: "Someone has captured the screen while calling the police, find out what happened." The flood of calls put the Operations Room police staff under increasing pressure as users started clicking the link, the officer added.
An investigation is underway to identify source of this message and prevent disruption to the round-the-clock services provided by the police to the community.
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