iPhone Users Warned About Potentially Dangerous "Siri 108" Prank

Caution – Viral Social Media Campaign 

The police department all across the United States are annoyed over a viral social media campaign which has encouraged iPhone users in saying the number 108 to Siri as a prank, which has gone viral. The police have stated that the scam has been spreading all over Facebook as well as Twitter and when iPhone users tend to test the Siri command `just for fun’, they are in reality tying up phones lines at the emergency call centres.

 If you dial 108 you will hear `calling emergency services in five seconds and within a span of five seconds, you will be transferred to 911. Sergeant Adrian Page with the Lonoke Police Department in Arkansas in a Facebook post which had gone viral with over 1,100 shares, had informed users not to fall for it, since it seems to tie up emergency lines. It has been designed specially as a panic code. The number 108 is in fact the emergency services number in India.

 As reported by sources, Apple desired to make it simple for people to contact emergency services from any location in the world and so telling Siri any emergency number of a country would get the user connected to the service for any location. You could ask Siri to call 911 if one is visiting the U.K. and it would dial 999 for local help.

Phone System Preventing Emergency Calls

The Annapolis Police Department in Maryland had mentioned that this prank has been spreading among Annapolis teens and has the possibility to tie up dangerously the 911 phone system preventing emergency calls from being instantly answered.

They have cautioned users not to fall for this trick. According to the National Emergency Number Association , around 240 million calls are said to be made to 911 each year in the U.S. most of which are made from wireless devices and placing prank call to 911 is said to be an offence.

The Marshall Police Department in Wisconsin had warned recently that this prank is problematic since it tends to use resources which are important for others attempting to receive help in case of genuine emergency conditions.

 The police has informed that essentially, telling Siri to call 108 is not a jest and the same should not be done unless in genuine emergency cases. The police agencies all over the U.S. have been cautioning iPhone users of a probable dangerous viral social media prank.

Users Call Emergency Services From Any Location

Pranksters are attempting to trick users into saying `Hey Siri, 108, prompting the digital assistant to contact emergency services wherein the number in India is equivalent of 911. Siri tends to begin a five second countdown on hearing `108’ enabling the users with the opportunity to terminate the call before it goes through.

 But pranksters who seem to share the trick tell users to `close their eyes and wait for 5 seconds before looking at their phone. Though 108 is said to be the emergency service number in India, Apple has made it that way in order that users can call emergency services from any location they may tend to be in the world, according to CNET.

 Users sharing the trick on social media may consider it as harmless but a similar incident had resulted in the death of a six month old boy wherein the caregiver had called 911 thrice on T-Mobile phone and was kept on hold each time she had called and resulted in the death of the infant.