A chain letter about the Talking Angela app game spouts unfounded information and appears to be a type of hoax.
The letter purports that some children told the app the name of the school they went to and that the schools went on red alert because of that.
There’s no evidence about this happening, including stories about the alerts.
Hoax-debunking website Snopes says the warning over the game–which has over 291,000 ratings and an average rating of 4.5-stars on the Google app store–is not founded.
The viral chain letter has been around for around a year but started going viral again recently.
Expert Graham Cluley with security firm Sophos also debunked the warning.
“The use of ALL CAPS, the mis-spellings, the illiterate punctuation, and the almost casual inaccuracies – it talks about a ‘site’ in one sentence and an ‘app’ in the next – ought to have been enough to condemn this warning to the dustbin of history at once,” he wrote on his blog.
He recommended people ignore the letter and not forward it to others or share it on Facebook.
The game actually has users interact with a cat named Angela, who is based in Paris in the game. People can chat with her, buy her presents, and choose her wardrobe.
It appears harmless, if somewhat pointless.
The app has gotten a variety of reviews from people.
“Good better best excellent and outstanding!!!!!” said one reviewer. “I think it is nice than other talking friends as when I read this description I found that it is excellent. But I read so many disadvantages about this. But I don’t think that it have this disadvantages.”
“I have reported this app This is in no way a childrens app! This is tye latest way for pedophiles to reach our children! Google it people!” said another. “This is not a ‘game’ I would let my children use....EVER! IF I COULD GIVE IT 0 STARS I WOULD!!!”
If there are worries about the game, people can simply remove it from their devices with one click.
