Do Not Accept 'Sonia Disowns Rahul' Video Virus: Hoax

Story:

***WARNING***
Tell all contacts from your list not to accept a video called the “Sonia disowns Rahul “. It is a virus that formats your mobile. Beware it is very dangerous. They announced it today on the radio. Fwd this msg to as many as you can.

Other Versions

1. Sonia disowns Rahul is a virus that formats your mobile. Beware it is very dangerous.

2. There is a video in circulation. Sonia disowns Rahul. Pl do not open. It’s a virus n can harm your systems.

Analysis:

A message in heavy circulation on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp warns users not to accept a video titled ‘Sonia Disowns Rahul’ as it is a dangerous virus that formats your mobile device or can harm your systems. It is also said that the information about the virus was announced on Radio, and the readers are requested to forward the message to all their social contacts. The claims do not make complete sense and are not facts either.

We have seen the aforementioned messages surfaced online since early March 2016 and became popular through social sharing. However, there is no credible information or report about any ‘Sonia Disowns Rahul’ video or message circulating as a virus. In fact, the part of the warning saying you should not ‘accept’ such a video does not make complete sense by itself. Moreover, the claim that such a video can format your phone or harm your systems is questionable, because harmful viruses/programs do not generally work that way. Notably, the text in the so called warning messages ‘announced on the radio’ and that the virus can ‘format’ your mobile phone have appeared in many old hoax stories, some of which are listed in Related Stories section below.

Considering the above facts and flaws, it is clear that the warning messages not to accept a video called ‘Sonia Disowns Rahul’ for it being a dangerous virus that can format your phone or harm your systems are plain hoaxes. It appears like someone might have started circulating the story as a prank, so it need not be shared with your contacts.