Giuliano J. de Leon, Tech Times

Fake 5G coronavirus conspiracies have real-world consequences that could have real-world consequences such as driving people to burn cellular equipment, as well as endangering telecom engineers' lives. According to CNET's latest report, a car sped past David Snowdon, a telephone engineer, after returning to his van after an assignment repairing a cell site.

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"You better not be or there will be fucking trouble," said one of the men in the car before smacking the mirror around of Snowdon's vehicle, kicking the door and walking off.

The 56-year-old telephone engineer from the United Kingdom's Midlands region thought the unexpected incident was an isolated case until he did some research and found out what is happening.

"The next day, I went onto Facebook, and there it all was this big 5G conspiracy. I thought, I better report this, and when I reported it to our security team, they went, 'Yeah, there's been quite a few," he explained.

According to the report, telecom engineers across the United Kingdom have been experiencing verbal harassment and physical abuse, or targeted online harassment and doxing over the past four months.

According to The Washington Post's previous report, the carriers were warned by the US Department of Homeland Security about the potential threat to wireless equipment; which was claimed caused by a conspiracy that 5G is to blame for the COVID-19 pandemic, that popped up just as the disease spread outside China in January, I which the people believes in.

Telecom engineers in the United Kingdom face real-world consequences of fake 5G conspiracies

According to CNET, different theorists had targeted 5G for as long as it's been around, just as with 3G and 4G before. However, the report said that this time is different because people have started to link it in many ways to the novel coronavirus pandemic, stating that the immune system becomes weak as 5G transmits the virus.

However, many scientists confirmed that the 5G conspiracies are categorically false. However, it was still reported that acts of vandalism and even setting masts on fire were done by a small number of people engaging with conspiracy theories. There have so far been 273 reported confrontations between telecoms workers and members of the public, including 121 incidents of sabotage or arson this year, as shown by the latest figures provided by industry body Mobile UK.

Different telecom companies and other phone carriers have taken precautions to protect their staff, who have continued to deliver important service while the rest of the U.K. has been on lockdown because of the global COVID-19 pandemic.


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Tags: 5G Conspiracy Update Fake COVID-19 Theories Telecom Engineers Real-world consequence
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