The Internet Scam That Led Autistic Boy to Tragically Hang Himself

A 17-year-old autistic boy ended his own life in England after receiving a spam email from “police,” claiming that he had been looking at illegal websites containing indecent images on his computer and had to pay a fine in order to avoid authorities taking action against him. The boy believed the scam was true and decided to hang himself, rather than upset his family.

In August of last year, Joseph Edwards had spent the day at home while his mother, Jacqueline, was out for the day. When Jacqueline returned home sometime after 6 pm, she found her son’s body hanging in the hallway.

During the investigation into the case, the mother stated she had run into the street, screaming hysterically, and how her neighbor, Lee Jobson, was the one to cut down her son’s body and called emergency personnel.

Police arrived on the scene and seized the teenager’s laptop, where they examined his search history.


“It seems that from examining the computer that there appeared to be some sort of scam on it,” the coroner, Michael Burgess said. “He had inadvertently clicked onto this and it seemed to be, according to the police, ‘a poor attempt at blackmail.’”

Unfortunately, Joseph’s autism may have contributed to him taking the scam very seriously.

The detective overseeing the case, Sergeant Peter Wall, is investigating who is behind the elaborate scam, but said tracing who is responsible is difficult, since it did not originate in England.

The mother said her son took his life in order to avoid upsetting her or his sister. “He was generally happy and had just started new friendship circles and was enjoying himself,” she explained at the hearing. “He didn’t seem to have any worries known to me. I don’t think he really understood. He did suffer from autism. I’m not sure he would have really understood the implications of what he was doing. He wouldn’t have done anything to upset myself or his sister, not deliberately.”

The mother hopes that her son’s story will help warn others of the potential dangers of the Internet. “Joseph was subjected to a scam on the internet, a threatening, fake police link that was asking for money,” she said in a statement. “He would have taken it literally because of his autism and he didn’t want to upset Georgia or me. The internet is an amazing thing, but it can also be dangerous and I want parents to make sure their children are aware of this sort of scam, especially autistic children, because they will not understand.”

How incredibly sad! Since most of us can automatically identify spam email, it probably never occurred to us that there are people out there with disabilities, who are easily susceptible to these types of scams. Not only are they at risk of being successfully conned, as this story shows, they are also at risk of an emotional reaction that could cost them their life. Those responsible for these deceitful practices are not concerned with how they may be destroying lives and have no regard for just how far their devastation my go.


Source: http://madworldnews.com/

Unbelievably Destructive Photos Of Frat Boys’ Party Weekend At Ski Resorts

It’s no secret that frat boys love to party; however, what happened at two Michigan ski resorts over the weekend undoubtedly went too far, as crews are still working to clean up the mess.

9&10News reports that three University of Michigan fraternities are to blame for over $50,000 worth of damage caused at two popular ski resorts in northern Michigan. Treetops resort in Gaylord saw the worst damage, committed by members of Sigma Alpha Mu, with damages totaling over $50,000 alone, the management said.

The other hard-hit resort was Boyne Highlands Resort, where two other fraternities were staying and caused thousands more in damage.

Treetops manager Barry Owens said that they were forced to call police to the premises to escort the college students off of the property after many were belligerently drunk, according to the Detroit Free Press. He said the rooms and hallways suffered significant damage to basically everything except the windows.

“We had a group of a fraternity that was visiting and had an excessive party and did damage on the resort. Food, beer, alcohol, the walls, carpet damage, ceiling broken down and furniture damage,” said Owens.

Crews are still working to clean up the massive path of destruction from the young men. Apparently, their party spanned across several floors and involved multiple rooms.

“They had a series of rooms, a couple [of] floors of rooms, obviously things got out of hand. We estimate the cleanup and damage is around $50,000,” Owens said. He also said they estimated there to be about 120 people at the resort when the damage occurred and that a total of 45 rooms were affected.

“They caused an excessive amount of damage,” Owens explained. “The rooms were just a pigsty. Unfortunately, I’ve been in this business for 30 years and it’s the worst condition of rooms that I’ve ever seen. There were broken ceiling tiles in the hallway, broken furniture, broken windows. There’s carpet that’s going to need to be replaced.”

The second resort saw damage to 12 separate private condos throughout the premises. The general manager expressed his disgust with the abhorrent behavior of the University students.

“We’re the stewards of the property and it’s disturbing to us and we need to protect their investments,” said Mike Chumbler. “We are following up with U of M and they promised us swift action. We assessed a significant fee when they checked out not knowing what’s in repair but we wanted to protect our owners and ourselves.”

The University’s spokesman, Rick Fitzgerald, said that the school is “very disappointed in the behavior” of some of the students. He vowed to hold both the students and the organizations they belong to accountable.

“While we are still gathering information, we understand that the damage at Treetops Resort and Boyne Highlands is expected to total in the thousands of dollars,” Fitzgerald said. “U-M staff members in the Office of Greek Life have begun meeting with the presidents of the fraternities and sororities involved.”

Fitzgerald said they’re going to demand the fraternities pay for all the damages. They’re also going to be notifying the national chapters of their organizations, who may decide to bring sanctions upon the students as well.

While everyone loves a good party, it’s hard not to wonder what these kids were possibly thinking. Both resorts have mentioned bringing criminal charges, let’s hope they do and these kids get punished to the fullest extent of the law for their poor judgement.

Source: http://madworldnews.com/

Woman Heard Noises In Public Trash Can, Couldn’t Believe What She Found

It’s rather understandable the level of curiosity that would come over someone who heard noises coming from a public trash can. A California woman experienced just that after being alerted by her dog to a strange noise coming from one such can in a local public park.

You can imagine her surprise when she opened the lid and found three of puppies inside.

An unidentified couple was walking their Australian shepherd in Paso Nogal Park in Pleasant Hill, California, when their dog began acting rather strangely. The family pet led the couple to a trashcan where they heard an odd noise coming from inside and decided to investigate.

The Good Samaritans dug through the garbage to locate the source of the noise and found a box. Inside the box was a bag, and when they opened that, they found three five-week-old puppies. According to deputy director of Contra Costa County Animal Services Rick Golphin, the family immediately took the helpless pups home, where they washed and fed them.

Woman Hears Noises In Public Trash Can, What She Found She Couldn’t Believe

“We see a lot of animal abandonment, but seeing cruelty of this type is pretty rare,” Golphin said. “The big take away from this is to get your animals spayed or neutered.”

An outraged Lt. Jody Decosta from Contra Costa Animal Services added, “You just have to think about someone’s psyche to do something like that. There is no answer to that.”

The dogs were reportedly taken to East Bay Animal Rescue & Refuge and are set to be evaluated for the next few days. From there, they will enter a foster home for a short time where they wait until they’re old enough to be adopted.

“They’ve all been medically assessed,” Golphin said. “We’ll probably make a decision on making them available (Wednesday). At that time, they will be available to the public unless something else occurs.”“They’ve all been medically assessed,” Golphin said. “We’ll probably make a decision on making them available (Wednesday). At that time, they will be available to the public unless something else occurs.”

Source: http://madworldnews.com/

Gorgeous Girl Killed Herself, But Left Behind 5 Items With Detailed Note

Madison Holleran was a beautiful and intelligent varsity athlete at the University of Pennsylvania with a bright future ahead of her. But at just 19-years-old, she jumped to her death, ending her life and the world of opportunities that awaited her. She took the fatal plunge, clenching five specific items and a note that explained why she chose to end it all.

Her note read, in part, “I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out, and I thought how it is worse perhaps to be locked in. For you mom…the necklaces…For you, Nana & Papa…GingerSnaps (always reminds me of you)…For you Ingrid…The Happiness Project. And Dad…the Godiva chocolate truffles. I love you all…I’m sorry. I love you.”

Gorgeous Girl Killed Herself, But Left Behind 5 Items With Detailed NoteMadison had the gifts mentioned in the note with her when she jumped, along with a photo of herself and a copy of Reconstructing Amelia, a story about an overachieving girl who eventually commits suicide, the Daily Mail reported.

Now, a year after her January 2014 suicide that shocked her family and community, Madison’s parents, Jim and Stacy Holleran, are sharing her story in hopes of helping other high school seniors and new college co-eds. Their message is specifically to bring awareness to those struggling with or know of someone struggling with circumstantial depression, who may have never felt down until this transitional phase in life, which was the case for Madison.

Madison had been a happy, high-achieving girl, who always did well in athletics and academics. She didn’t have a boyfriend, substance abuse issues, or a personal or family history of mental illness at the time of her death, which are typical contributing factors in most teen suicides. She had never been depressed until her first semester in college, when she began feeling very down about herself and having suicidal thoughts.                                                                                                                                                                                       The Hollerans had tried to get their daughter into therapy after she admitted to them she was thinking about killing herself. They were shocked to learn their happy, well-adjusted daughter had taken such an unexpected turn in life. Her mother was unable to schedule an immediate appointment since it was the weekend.                                                                                                                                                                               Madison was home with her family over winter break for the holidays, and her parents felt she seemed happier, making them hopeful that she had overcome this dark time. Sadly, she committed suicide just a few weeks later, when she jumped from a tall parking garage. Just hours before she jumped, Jim had sent her a text message, reminding her to ask her new therapist to write her a prescription for antidepressants.

In their grief after her death, Jim explained to other parents though their newly established foundation in their daughter’s memory, The Madison Holleran Foundation, “I don’t think she realized how awful it would be for us to not have her around.” Jim also issued a warning to other parents, “Parents, if you see a huge change in your child and you haven’t discussed suicide with them, open that discussion up,” NorthJersey.com reported.

He added, “And if that person would understand what they are doing to their family and their friends and their extended friends, they would not choose suicide if they really understood that they would be gone forever. They would not make that choice, but they are not thinking in their right mind.”

Madison’s parents and friends of the family believe her depression was brought on by putting too much pressure on herself to achieve. In her first semester at UPenn, she received a 3.5 GPA, which may have been a huge let down for her self-imposed high expectations. While Jim does not deny that the pressure may have gotten to Madison, he does not blame the university for her suicide.

Every 13-14 seconds in the United States, someone will take their life. Paying attention to people’s changes in behavior and letting them know you care, could possibly prevent someone you love from making this decision.

Source: http://madworldnews.com/

Popular Nickelodeon Cartoon Suggests That Gay Is Okay!

Sometime around the turn of the New Millennium, Americans suddenly became more aware of the gay community. Since then, said awareness would increase incrementally, but it would be in 2008 that the gay community would receive a sudden spike in support. This is because the gay community’s struggle was now being linked to civil rights (equality, marriage, etc.). Eventually, media and entertainment would follow suit, a move comedian Aries Spears described as a “gayplosion in the country.”

Seven years have passed since then, and the media and entertainment’s support for the gay community has now been branded as an agenda. As a result, Conservatives, Libertarians, and Christ Followers have voiced their criticisms, including Larry Tomczak who had verbal fisticuffs with gay daytime talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres. Robert Rich of Mad World News even reported that actor Billy Crystal is demanding that the entertainment industry stop shoving the gay lifestyle into people’s faces.

Despite the details described above, there is one detail the gay agenda did that could be considered respectable. You may find that a surprise, but it was good to know they didn’t purposely expose homosexuality to children on shows meant for children. They kept such a lifestyle delegated to more grown-up programming. However, that line was recently crossed when Nickelodeon subjected millions of young viewers to the message that gay is a-okay through one of their most popular cartoons.

Some of you are probably shocked right now. Nickelodeon, the network that had animated classics like Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, and Rocket Power, possibly being in league with the gay agenda? That can’t be true, right? Unfortunately, they might be doing just that through their animation series, Legend of Korra.

For those of you who are not up to date with cartoons, Legend of Korra is an animated series that aired from April of 2012 to December of last year. It already had an established fan base because it was the successor of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a series that won many awards and garnered many fans for utilizing both Western and Japanese storytelling and animation. Because of this fact, an average of 4.5 million viewers tuned in to watch Legend of Korra‘s premier. For Nickelodeon, that is a very high viewership!

The scene in question of exposing young people to a gay relationship is actually the final scene of the series finale. That’s right! The minds behind Legend of Korra waited to the very last episode to cement a gay relationship to their audience. I have attached a video of the scene below for your viewing. Understand, the video is partially cropped so Youtube wouldn’t take it down for violating copyright laws.

As you can see, main protagonist Korra (in blue) and Asami Sato travel to the Spirit World together. The parts that should be noticed are when they both hold hands while gazing into each other’s eyes while standing in the midst of the Spirit World portal. Looks like gestures a loving couple standing in front of a sunrise (or sunset) would do right? The Huffington Post, along with many media news sites of a LGBTQ preference, seem to agree.

Now to be fair, Korra and Asami Sato’s gestures may just be innocent displays of a very strong friendship. It could be possible that LGBTQ communities are seeing something as pro-gay when it is not. Such assumptions were made for Bert and Ernie of Sesame Street, Lucy and Ethel in I Love Lucy, and David and Jonathan in the Holy Bible. It may also be possible that the scene is up to interpretation, possibly a means to cement the series’ importance years from now through discussion and social debate.

In the end, all questioning on said scene would be put to rest when the creators of Legend of Korra, Bryan Konietzko and Mike Dante Dimartino, confirmed “Korrasami” to be canon on December 22, 2014.

According to Bryan Konietzko’s official blog, he talks about how he was the first shipper for Korrasami and how the creative team focused on developing Korra and Asami’s relationship throughout the third and finals seasons. Apparently, he was upset that every single time a male and female appears in the same feature as primary characters, they end up together. That is when Bryan came across a quote by famed animation director of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, that read the following:

“I’ve become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live – if I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love.”

However, Bryan Konietzko wanted to update that sentiment that just because two characters of the same sex appear in the same story, it should not preclude the possibility of a romance between them. So, when the finale was close to being finished in production, Bryan wanted to openly depict Korrasami. Nickelodeon was supportive but gave limits on what can be shown. After Bryan discussed details with Mike Dante Dimartino, they both made sure the relationship was unambiguous.

In Mike Dante Dimartino’s official blog, he writes how he is humbled that the decision to unambiguously show Korra and Asami’s relationship has meant so much for the LGBTQ community. He even shows support for them just before giving thanks to his readers. Utilizing a quote from Legend of Korra character Tenzin when he said, “Life is one bumpy ride,” Mike writes the following to the LGBTQ community:

“And if, by Korra and Asami being a couple, we are able to help smooth out that ride even a tiny bit for some people, I’m proud to do my part, however small it might be.”

Now that you know that Nickelodeon supported a confirmed gay relationship that was subjected to millions of young viewers, what are your views? Sound off in the comments!

Source: http://madworldnews.com/

What's in processed cheese slices? Shock experiment may put you off them for life

A chef holds a cheese slice over a naked flame in front of a camera to prove a point about processed foods.

Eagle-eyed viewers are expecting the cheese to droop and melt over the flame - but it does nothing of the sort.

Instead, the snack, which is sold by South American's Aurrera discount chain, blackens and becomes charred - just like plastic would.

Controversy: Aurrera make the processed cheese slices

The video uploaded by Facebook user Jose Raul Reyes, 24, from Mexico, quickly notched up over one million views in the first few hours.

It attracted widespread comment from shocked viewers.

One wrote: "Why doesn't the Health Ministry ban something like this which clearly isn't cheese?"

And another wrote: "If anybody wants to know why cancer is on the increase, look no further."

On fire: The cheese is held over the cooker

Jose said: "I tried it out after hearing from a friend of mine that these cheese slices are not real cheese and don't melt, and he showed me what happened when you put them over a gas flame to prove it.

"I felt like I was being ripped off so I filmed it and stuck it on YouTube, and was surprised about the reaction."

The video shows the cheese sold by the Aurrera discount chain being held in a naked flame and being blackened and charred, but not melting.

Jose said it behaved more like plastic than cheese, and added he posted it to warn people to think about what they were buying.

Stunned: But instead of melting - it turns black

The row over processed cheese started last year in the United States with a similar video of Kraft sliced cheese.

It prompted the company to release their own YouTube video explaining why it does not melt at high temperatures.

At the time, Kraft said it was well known that their cheese only melted at low temperatures and stressed that the cheese was perfectly healthy to eat and contained only real cheese and natural product additives.

The only other addition, they said, was the use of emulsifiers to bind the proteins and fat which they said was also common in chocolate and many other foods.

The emulsifiers, they said, meant that at high temperatures the cheese did not melt and it would need lower temperatures and a longer period of time if people wanted to see their Kraft cheese slices melting.

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/