Spontaneously Combusting Debit Cards

Police in Cheshire, England recently warned of an unusual scam letter being sent around. Apparently authored by officials at Barclays Bank, it informed people that their debit cards were at risk of spontaneous combustion and needed to be returned (to an address in India):

Many of our bank costumers have reported that their debit cards have caught fire while they are in wallets and purses, so as a precushion we are issuing an URGENT safety recall. This is a matter of the uppermost emergency as your card could create a pocket fire at any given moment, burning your legs and stomach terribly. This is because of a fault in the factory process at our debit card facility in Molton Keynes.

News of this strange and obvious scam then made its way into various newspapers, such as the manchester evening news.

But the scam wasn't what it appeared to be. It was actually a case of satire being mistaken for news. The author of the letter was blogger Simon Harris who, back in 2018, had written and posted a picture of it as a joke.

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jul 07, 2019
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Comments

Will my card last long enough so that I can withdraw that 33.5 million dollars I received form my uncle, the Nigerian Prince?

Posted by KDP on 07/07/19 at 09:14 AM

Poe's Law in action!

Posted by Phideaux on 07/07/19 at 09:24 AM

If this were real, it would deserve kudos for pure ballsiness. Extra credit for “percushion”.

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Posted by Lucas on 07/08/19 at 06:21 AM

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