FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - An internet prank is hacking phones and incessantly dialing 911 without the victim’s consent.
Victims like Andrea Jara said that once she opened up the link online, her phone began to call 911 over and over without touching the keypad.
This hack has gone viral and is being used on Twitter. According to victims, no matter how many times they tried to hang up on the phone call, the phone would not stop dialing 911.
Jara, a Fort Lauderdale resident and vlogger on YouTube said she likes to help and motivate teens on her YouTube channel. On Tuesday night, she posted a motivational tweet and that’s when a follower tweeted her back with a link.
“It kind of just looked like a YouTube video, so I clicked on it,” Jara said. “It took a little bit, and it kind of just glitched. My phone just went blank, and it just started calling 911. I’m sitting there, and I’m clicking end, and it wouldn’t stop.”
The hack took over her phone, calling 911 multiple times. “It physically just looked like it was 911 calling,” Jara said. “It was just a black screen, and it said 911, and every single time you click end, it was like recalling, calling, calling, so there was no way to stop it.”
She’s not alone. The 911 hack has gone viral and Twitter users warned others to not click on the link.
Twitter user Samuel Burt tweeted, “Just clicked one of those ‘prank’ links on Twitter, and it started repeatedly calling 911, never panicked so hard in my life.”
Another user, Steven Wooten, said in a tweet that he clicked on the link and called 911 about 30 times.
Hackers even tried to entice victims and posed the link as a tracklist to popular albums while others asked for support for their personal page.
“It shows that I called them over 150 times,” Jara said. “We’ve turned off the phone, we turned it back on and we realized [we received] five voicemails from them contacting me saying this is 911, saying if this is an emergency or not.”
Jara was not going through an emergency, but she said she feels guilty about the whole ordeal. “I feel horrible because it was like blowing up their phone,” she said. “I don’t want them to come to my house when it’s not an emergency. They could be saving someone else’s life.”
This hack is happening across the United States. Police agencies in South Florida are warning people to not click on strange links that are sent to them.
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