Kind-hearted caught out in internet milk top hoax

Kind-hearted Palmerston North people have been duped into collecting thousands of plastic milk top rings in what has proved to be an Internet hoax.

Churchgoers, service club members and staff at Palmerston North Hospital are among the scores who thought the plastic rings would be swapped for wheelchairs at Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital.

But it is a hoax that has fooled people around the world, including Ken Larsen of Palmerston North, who says he feels gullible but very angry about the trick.

Mr Larsen, a member of St David's Presbyterian Church, has collected 400 of the milk rings in recent weeks, and his church has stumped up with thousands.

"This is cruel. We thought it was for wheelchairs for Starship.

"I'm aghast someone would do this," he said.

The scheme is one of several "cash-for-trash" e-mail hoaxes circulating around the world. Some call for the collection of bottle tops, wrappers and ring pulls, as well as plastic milk rings, purportedly to be exchanged for medical equipment or help for the seriously ill, especially children.

Mr Larsen has an e-mail from a church member warning fellow members that the scheme is a hoax and saying that St David's' congregation "weren't the only ones sucked in".

Nurses and other staff at Palmerston North Hospital were also taken in by the hoax. A collection box was set up in the patient transit lounge and a "supermarket bag-full" of rings was collected before the ruse was uncovered, nurse Mary Sinclair said.

The collection was begun by a hospital worker who saw the bogus scheme advertised on the Internet. It ran for three to four months and was uncovered as a hoax about three weeks ago.

Starship spokeswoman Rachel Hughes said she was unaware of this particular hoax involving Starship but knew of similar tricks.

The hospital would be keen to find the original e-mail or website.

- NZPA