" I am a construction worker and i am in deep trouble. My 5 year old daughter has a heart in her hole and she needs immediate operation. I cannot afford to get my daughter treated and hence the cell phone companies have come forward to help me. If you forward this SMS, the cell phone comanies will track it and give me 5 paise for every forward. I request you to send this SMS to ten people so as to contribute 50 paise so that my daughter can be saved."

This is a SMS (cell phone message) that i got today on my cellphone. I got the same few months ago too. Now, what i want to know is that is this sms really genuine?? Is that contruction worker really going to recieve the money?? Is there at all a construction worker who needs this kind of help?? Who is the real benefactor of this...the construction worker or the cell phone companies?? Are they not swindling us out of our money??? I guess these cell phone companies have gone few steps ahead and found out a new way of earning (rather extorting) money--- i.e by emotional blackmailing. Nowadays we can see lots of talent hunt competitions too where the public is asked to VOTE for their favourite contestants through SMS and each SMS is charged ten times more than usual SMS. And in the talent hunt shows , the anchors or the contestants or people associated with the shows, resort to cheap emotional blackmail too ( eg Ismail Darbar walking out of a Zee TV show) Has the cellphone companies found out a new way to swindle money from the people?? If they have then I must say that this kind of emotional blackmail is very cheap and unethical. If the cellphone companies are really helping the construction worker then why are they given just 5 paise out of one sms?? why not 50 paise?? Often i recieve SMSs asking me to pass it to 10 people or I may face badluck or il health. What are we upto?? Would 'not' sending few sms bring bad luck to us?

I think itis for us to decide whether we have to send or forward SMSs or not. And we should see to it and no one can make money by fooling us. No one else should be allowed to make money or earn at our cost and expenses.