Prague, Aug 4 (CTK) – Czechs are champions of spreading hoaxes on the Internet, daily Pravo writes yesterday, referring to information on the hoax.cz website that has been monitoring these rumours regularly and warns of their nonsensical character.
One of such hoaxes gives advice about the use of an “emergency PIN” for a credit/payment card to alarm the police in case its owner is forced to collect money against his will. “If your PIN code is 1234, you write 4321, the cash dispenser still gives you money, but it at the same time calls the police to help you,” says a chain hoax on the Internet.
Banks have categorically denied it as apparent nonsense.
Other popular hoaxes warn of some food, Pravo says.
One claims that the oranges with a red pulp inside actually come from Libya and they have been intentionally impregnated with HIV-infected blood, which the Croatian customs authority allegedly revealed, Pravo writes.
Jiri Stupka, from the State Veterinary Institute, refuted the allegation.
He says the red colour of the pulp was probably caused by a partial mutation with blood oranges. Moreover, even if the rumour were true, it is not possible to contract HIV this way, since its virus does not survive outside human body for long, Stupka added.
Another hoax, which has circulated on the Czech web for long, points out that if milk in the Tetra Pak packaging is not used by the date of recommended consumption, it is returned to the producer who will open the packaging, boil the milk and repack it again.
Josef Duben, spokesman for the State Veterinary Authority, reacted to it saying milk in Tetra Pak is not pasteurised, but treated by ultra-high temperature processing (UHT), and cannot be processed this way again, Pravo writes.
Hoaxes about the Romany community are also quite frequent in the Czech Republic. They, for instance, cite false examples of Romanies receiving exorbitant welfare payments for children, while not working, Pravo says.
