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Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Kidney thefts -- now in Australia
From: Roger.Douglas@removethis.tafensw.edu.au (Roger Douglas)
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 1998 01:10:16 GMT

A friend forwarded an e-mail warning about kidney thefts, asking if it was a hoax (I have apparently acquired some sort of reputation for knowing about these things). It seems to be doing the rounds of NSW and Australian Federal government organisations. I won't post the whole thing, but I found it interesting that the message contains two distinct versions of the story apparently cut-and-pasted together.

It starts with:

> This guy went out on a Saturday night a few weeks ago, to a party.
> He was having a good time, had a couple of beers and some girl
> seemed to like him and invited him to go to another party. 

You know the rest: bathtub full of ice, message to phone 000 (Australian emergency number, written on his chest in lipstick in this case). We are told the victim is now in hospital awaiting a spare kidney, and a bit of local colour is added:

> The University of Sydney in conjunction with The Royal Prince
> Alfred Hospital is conducting tissue research to match the student with a
> donor.

But later in the same e-mail we get:

> I wish to warn you about a new crime ring that is targeting business
> travelers. This ring is well organized, well funded, has very
> skilled personnel, and is currently in most major cities around
> the world and recently very active in Sydney.
>
> The crime begins when a business traveler goes to a lounge for a
> drink at the end of the work day. A person in the bar walks up as
> they sit alone and offers to buy them a drink. The last thing the traveler
> remembers until they wake up in a hotel room bath tub, their body
> submerged to their neck in ice, is sipping that drink.
[etc.]

The style of this suggests it has just been cut-and pasted into the middle of the other story.

After the standard version of the legend the following is added:

> This is not a scam or out of a science fiction novel, it is real.
> It is documented and confirmable. If you travel or someone close to
> you travels, please be careful. Sadly, this is very true. My friends
> husband is a Sydney Firefighter/EMT and they have received alerts
> regarding this crime ring. It is to be taken  very seriously. The
> daughter of a friend of a fellow firefighter had this happen to
> her.

[Note the wonderful five-step FOAFFF chain]

>
> Skilled doctor's are performing these crimes! (which, by the way
> have been highly noted in the Brisbane area). Additionally, the
> military
> has received alerts regarding this. This story blew me away. I
> really want as many people to see this as possible so please
> bounce this to whoever you can.

So what we have here, apparently, is a generic version of the story (actually the "tube in the back" variant) which has been "topped and tailed" with a local version of the story and suitable dire warnings supposedly derived from personal knowledge. The last person in the chain also seems to have added his own embellishment:

This is a true story, it has been confirmed, the Medical Centre phone number at the end is real! I rang it to confirm it, as I did not believe the story to start with either.

Unfortunately there is no Medical Centre phone number at the end, at least in the copy I received.

One last point. In the description of our friend's contact with the emergency operator we are told that

> She told him to get back
> in the tub immediately, and they sent a rescue team over.  

This seems a nice little touch, suggesting that the bath of ice is a valid first-aid measure. Why hypothermia would somehow help you to survive without kidneys remains a mystery.

--R.