Frantic, she handed the phone off to another one of her sons with stronger English. When he demanded to know who was on the line, the caller hung up. The phone rang again minutes later, but this time the caller said he would let the family talk to their soldier. He then handed the phone to someone who said, essentially, “hey, I’m okay,” before the line went dead again.
Not until later did they realize that they were victims of an April Fool’s Day prank that was making the rounds.
On Wednesday, the American Red Cross received word that someone claiming to be a Red Cross representative has called at least ten families of deployed soldiers in four states to tell them that their loved ones are either missing in action, have been taken prisoner, or worse, killed in combat. “I’ve been with the American Red Cross for 13 years,” says Kathy Osterman, who heads up Michigan’s armed forces emergency services for the Red Cross, a post she held during the Persian Gulf War, too. “We’ve never had anything like this where families were played such a horrible prank.” Six Michigan families received the calls, more than in any other state. At least one occurrence of the hoax was been reported in Alabama, Delaware and Virginia. There are unconfirmed reports trickling in of more calls since the first of the month. The Red Cross, local law-enforcement and the Defense Dept. are currently investigating the hoax.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” says Red Cross spokesman Darren Irby. “These men and women are representing our country in the best way possible and there are so many Red Crossers who are doing the same, it’s really unfortunate.” He says there may be more families who have received the phony Red Cross calls and simply assumed that they were authentic–people may be living with the horrible mistaken impression that their son, father or daughter has been killed in combat. So the Red Cross wants to get the word out to military families that it’s simply not up to them to deliver the news that someone is missing in action, a prisoner of war or dead–that’s the Pentagon’s job.
In at least the case of Michigan family who received the two disturbing calls in one day, the Red Cross is now playing its prescribed role: It is supplying mental health counseling to the victims of the prank.
