Cell Phone Curse Particularly Hard On Bulgarian Crooks

Strange doings in the cellular would of Bulgaria, where the phone number 0888 888 888-I hesitate to even type those digits, such is the terrifying history of that sequence-has been suspended "after every single person assigned to it died in the last 10 years." (If you guessed the Daily Mail pat yourself on the back.) Anyway, there is more.

The first owner, Vladimir Grashnov – the former CEO of Bulgarian mobile phone company Mobitel, which issued the number – died of cancer in 2001 aged just 48.

Despite a spotless business record there were persistent rumours that his cancer had been caused by a business rival using radioactive poisoning.

The jinxed number then passed to Bulgarian mafia boss Konstantin Dimitrov.

He was gunned down in 2003 by a lone assassin in the Netherlands during a trip to inspect his £500million drug-smuggling empire.

The number then went to a crooked businessman, who was-wait for it-"gunned down outside an Indian restaurant in Bulgaria's capital Sofia in 2005, after taking over the jinxed line."

And that's it. One can certainly argue coincidence in this case, or one can suggest that if 2 out of 3 of the numbers' owners were engaged in risky criminal behavior, it is not exactly shocking that they came to untimely ends. (It should also be noted that Bulgaria has Europe's third highest death rate.) But where's the fun in that? Spooky cell phone will kill anyone who has its number! It's a lot sexier than non-haunted cell phones, which will also kill you but will take much longer because the tumors need time to form.