Warning on mobile phone fraud is a hoax

An email has been doing the rounds which warns users of mobile phones from keying in #90 or #09, for fear of a fraudster hijacking their sim (subscriber identity module) card and making calls at their expense. It also warns cellphone users from answering calls that display ‘XALAN\' on their screen. On answering this call, the email warns, your phone could be affected by a virus that could delete all information from the SIM as well as the handset. \"This message was circulated first via email, and more lately via social media and text message,\" said an IT expert, who declined to be named. \"The message is a hoax,\" he said, adding that none of the information in the email is valid for mobile phone users. \"A scammer cannot hijack a cell phone by making the user press #90, #09 or any other such combination of digits,\" he said. He rejected the claim that dialling #90 would give a fraudster access to sim cards.