Very Serious Issue

Warning: Look at the gas pump handle BEFORE you pump your gas. Please read and forward to anyone you know who drives a car. My name is Captain Abraham Sands of the Jacksonville , Florida , Police Department. I have been asked by state and local authorities to write this email in order to get the word out to car drivers of a very dangerous prank that is occurring in numerous states. Some person or persons have been affixing hypodermic needles to the underside of gas pump handles! These needles appear to be infected with HIV positive blood. In the Jacksonville area alone, there have been 17 cases of people being stuck by these needles over the past five (5) months. We have verified reports of at least 12 others in various states around the country . It is believed that these may be copycat incidents due to someone reading about the crimes or seeing them reported on television. At this point no one has been arrested and catching the perpetrator 's) has become our top priority. Shockingly, of the 17 people who where stuck, 8 have tested HIV positive and because of the nature of the disease, the others could test positive in a couple years. Evidently the consumers go to fill their car with gas, and when picking up the pump handle get stuck with the infected needle. IT IS IMPERATIVE TO CAREFULLY CHECK THE HANDLE of the gas pump each time you use one. LOOK AT EVERY SURFACE YOUR HAND MAY TOUCH, INCLUDING UNDER THE HANDLE! If you do find a needle affixed to one, immediately contact your local police department so they can collect the evidence. PLEASE HELP US BY MAINTAINING A VIGILANCE, AND BY FORWARDING THIS EMAIL TO ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO DRIVES. THE MORE PEOPLE WHO KNOW OF THIS, THE BETTER PROTECTED WE CAN ALL BE. Rose L ambert, Chief Aide to Supervisor Gerry Hyland, Mount Ver non District, 2511 Parkers Lane , Alexandria , VA 22306 .
> PLEASE READ THIS AND PASS IT ON TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!!!!

 

Whoa... that's scary... 17 people
I never thought of that, why the hell would some freak do that? its just stupid.
at least now i can be prepared :D

 

I looked up on the internet the claims of this because I wanted to see if it was a hoax or not and apparently it is a false thing and there is no such person as Captain Abraham Sands. This is an internet hoax started in the year 2000 and it has changed over the years to assign this false person to other places to include Buffalo, NY, Ontario Provincial Police Dept, and the man's name has also appeared as Sheriff Ken Irwin.

This was meant to play on the fears of people of the deadly disease AIDS and is not the only thing ever done to promote that fear and play a mean joke. I remember times when people would say pay phones had needles, movies, latrines, etc. Also, there is no listing ever of 17 people being victims to needles by pumping gas or an AIDS case of this situation at all in Florida. Jacksonville also does not apparently even have a police dept and only has a Sheriff department, which may be why later the hoax declares that and changed the man's name. The sheriff's department also reported several calls made from receiving this email to verify and of course, they could not and said it was false. There were some cases after of people leaving needles at places because of this hoax as a joke but no needles ever tested positive for AIDS.

There are quite a few sites listing this information so I'll post a couple links here and if you guys want to investigate more, just google 'Captain Abraham Sands'.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/crime/a/abraham-sands.htm
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/f/floridaneedles.htm

So no needs to worry about it. =:)

 

Smart Repliku. It's always good to find out what's a hoax and what's not.

 

Jeeze you gotta be the smartest person on this website.I would have never done research.Well done.

 

Thank You Repliku, you rock :D
I got worried!

 

it doesn't really sound credible to me. if the story is VERY outrageus it usually is just a hoax.

 

Thank you Repliku!

 

that's very smart repliku... so is this just saying that AIDS is still becoming more of a joke or are they trying to make people scared

 

Someone did their homework.
Well done Repliku!


& why the heck would OP post a chainmail thing?
Lamesauce. That's why...
:\

 

You are all welcome and thanks for the compliments. *blush*
These things do get around and I recalled emails in the past or warnings people would come up with about scares in this manner so that's pretty well all that cued me in to check was intuition. I guess anything that sounds too 'fantastic' or 'horrible' I will look up just to make sure because otherwise I would be going to the gas station and checking out pump handles religiously. I hate living a life of fear, if you get what I mean. These people who do these kinds of things are low lives and I suppose the only thing we can do is research and hope we can dismiss these. Thanks again for saying the things you did. Makes me even more happy to have done the work because it was so well received. =:)

As for the purpose of these sorts of things, back in the 80s and 90s AIDS was a big fear people had. When someone was diagnosed with AIDS these people were ostracized a lot even after we learned that people could only get it from exchanging fluids, bad needles being shared and sexual intercourse. If someone had actually come out with this in the 80s or 90s the effects might have been worse and harder to dismiss. In the end some people just like to mess with people's fears and see how they will react for a laugh.

 

that's horrible... O_o people can be really cruel, y'know...?

but, seriously... I hate these types of things. I went to about two gas stations today and I could not stop thinking about this stupid joke, and I started to worry for my parents, despite what Repliku had said. It's a scary matter. It's not funny to try and whack at other people's fears...

but thank you for researching that Repliku... If you hadn't of done that, I'm sure I would've freaked out even more today... ;P

 

And once again, Repliku decimates a thread with solid proof. Good work! :D

 

Thanks a bunch Repliku! Your the best!

 

Well Repliku is a hero of the people at the moment it seems xD

and on that note...​

~locked~​