Hoax Site Promising Tan from Computer Screen Gets Over A Million Views
HARRY HAYDON, The Sun: A SPOOF website claiming to give users a tan through their computer screens has attracted more than a million hits, it emerged today.
Computertan.com, set up two months ago to promote the work of a skin cancer charity, initially promises to ensure sun-hungry Brits “look great in the office” by transmitting ultraviolet rays into their homes.
But when users click to access a “free five-minute tan trial”, bars from a sun bed appear on the screen with a message warning “Don’t be fooled — UV Exposure Can Kill”. The site then goes on to warn the public of the threat posed by skin cancer, which kills an average of five Britons every day.
Visitors to the site are also shown graphic images of the effects of the disease and are offered the opportunity to pass on the warnings by “hoaxing” a friend with a link to the spoof tanning service. The Nottingham-based Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity, known as Skcin, described the success of the site as phenomenal.
