As reported by R. Dunning, 10/16/01:

I believe I was the victim of one of these hoax scares yesterday. A friend from college days who lives in rural Wales phoned me with a tale of a friend of a friend who helped an Arab (a chance acquaintance) in some way over money and by way of reward the Arab told him not to be in London on 17th October (tomorrow). Apparently this was reported to the police who recognized the description.

Now, I saw this story reported in one of our national newspapers a week or two ago but can't remember which one. It is apparently a story which is going round, with different dates.

What spooked me was getting it by phone rather than by email. But I believe it is a hoax and I am pretty angry because I am trying to carry on as normal in London. I have to go into the centre tomorrow and frankly I can just do without that sort of thing.