# Death by Spam **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 28, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333 "2011-01-28T21:10:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/1 "2011-01-28T21:10:28Z")
**Spam text kills a suicide bomber, saves hundreds** > [@](#): > > A spam message wishing a Russian woman happy new year may very well have killed her, and saved hundreds of intended targets, according to an account by The Telegraph’s Moscow correspondent, Andrew Osborn. > > The woman, dubbed “The Black Widow,” who authorities suspect was part of the same militant group that killed 35 people at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport on Monday, was at a house preparing for the attack, which would have occurred on New Year’s Eve at Red Square. Instead, the woman’s mobile phone, which served as the device’s detonator, was activated hours early by a spam message wishing her a happy new year. She was killed, while a man and woman also in the house and suspected of being accomplices, escaped. > > Russian security forces told The Telegraph that phones are usually kept off until the last minute for detonation, but in this case, “the terrorists were careless.” [http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/\_news/2011/01/28/5942012-spam-text-kills-a-suicide-bomber-saves-hundreds](http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/28/5942012-spam-text-kills-a-suicide-bomber-saves-hundreds) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/2 "2011-01-28T22:18:52Z")
[Link.](http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/28/5942012-spam-text-kills-a-suicide-bomber-saves-hundreds) _I_ laughed. Happy New Year, bitch. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/3 "2011-01-28T22:52:10Z")
Scooped by an hour: > **[Death by Spam](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=594952)** > > Spam text kills a suicide bomber, saves hundreds http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/\_news/2011/01/28/5942012-spam-text-kills-a-suicide-bomber-saves-hundreds ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/4 "2011-01-28T22:53:29Z")
The first Darwin Award of 2011? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/5 "2011-01-28T23:40:25Z")
Merged duplicate threads. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/6 "2011-01-29T00:28:53Z")
Dear Terroirist Suicide Bomber: I am writing to you, on behalf of Chairman Brother Usama bin-Laden. I have a bomb, consisting of Ten Kilograms (10 KG) of Semtex, high explosive plastic explosive. I urgently need your Assistance in this matter… ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/7 "2011-01-29T02:33:32Z")
“Can you hear me now…? Good.” 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/8 "2011-01-29T03:11:21Z")
Now that’s bloody hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![longPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@longPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longPath)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/9 "2011-01-29T12:30:13Z")
I assumed a suicide bomber would not require a remotely detonated device. Seems like overkill (heh) It’s good she got taken out as she probably would have gone on to make more such devices. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/10 "2011-01-29T14:06:16Z")
I’ve wondered about this myself a few times, that is, a bomb going off prematurely because of an incoming call or SMS. It’s quite “funny” in this instance, getting blown to bits by spam, what would had been deliciously ironic would had been setting the bomb off with a call from some terrorist associate wanting to know if she had carried out the bombing yet. ---
**Author:** ![Cort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/77aa72/32.png) [@Cort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cort)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/11 "2011-01-30T20:11:08Z")
Hah! Hope you’re enjoying 2011 in hell, you cunt. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/12 "2011-01-30T20:19:54Z")
It would be funny if she had been dressed as an anthropomorphic rhinoceros. Then the thread title could have been… **Death To Smoochy By Spam** ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/13 "2011-01-30T20:41:21Z")
Well, that stuff does have a lot of salt… ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-spam/569333/14 "2011-01-31T08:16:36Z")
So if this happened on New Year’s, why are we hearing about it now?