Callous hoax targets help line
A hoaxer has sent mass texts to thousands of people requesting they ring the number for the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard.
The text message purports to be a friend whose mobile phone has run out of battery.
Many of the 150 plus volunteers were subjected to abuse by their co victims who mistakenly believed that the help-line was responsible for the rogue texts.
The police are now involved and are working with mobile phone operators to discover the source of the texts.
The main concern is the waste of peoples time and money and that the hoaxer could threaten the service’s ability to handle genuine calls.
The help line which has been operating since 1974, is entirely volunteer based and relies on charity but handles over 30,000 calls per year.
The switchboard deals with a wide variety of issues from safer sex to relationships and bullying.
