A microchip is pictured on a woman's finger during a presentation of the German Bundesdruckerei
A microchip is pictured on a woman's finger during a presentation of the German Bundesdruckerei (German Federal Print Office) and the Fraunhofer-Institut for Reliability and Micro Integration (IZM) in Berlin July 11, 2007. The chip, which is less than 10 micrometres thick, will in future be used in paper-based security documents like passports. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann

End-of-the-world scenarios continue to fascinate doomsday prophets who are even willing to believe Internet hoaxes to push their agenda that the Biblical Apocalypse is happening soon.

One such Internet hoax is the alleged mandatory implant of chips in newborn babies in the US as part of the Medicare reform under the Obama administration. In January 2014, the hoax moved the so-called mandatory implant order to Europe.

The hoax report placed May 2014 as the period when the compulsory subcutaneous implant of the RFID chip would takes effect. It added that the chip would double as a sensor powered by a micro disposable battery replaced every 2 years in state clinics.

The sensor feature appears to confirm the fears of some Christian groups of the so-called Mark of the Beast warned in the Bible when all transactions would be linked through the implant, hence the compulsory nature of the RFID chip.

According to the Web site Snopes.com, which debunks hoax stories, the report that the EU made the RFID chip implant mandatory was traced to the Web site topinfopost.com which it described as having "a long history of picking up and republishing false information from other sources with no regard for its veracity."

Snopes.com attributed the original story to an Italian hoax that was published in December 2013, which could have been an offshoot of different stories published in the EU in recent years that speculated on various European national governments mandating the implant of tracking devices. However, there are no such regulations that have been calendared in the EU parliament or passed by individual governments within the regional bloc.

Snopes.com also pointed out that an article published on June 8, 2014, in the National Report is a spoof of the false belief that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more known as Obamacare, would require a microchip implant. The spoof article, which became viral, cited scientists from the Wyoming Institute of Technology claiming that a study of almost 3,000 US residents found that 1,000 of them already have an RFID chip. However, most of them were allegedly unaware that it is already in their bodies.

It pointed out that National Report has a reputation for the publication of outrageous hoax stories, which used to have a disclaimer that the Web site is a news and political satire site. But the disclaimer have been removed, although National Report publisher Allen Montgomery has clarified in legitimate media sites that only people who are too lazy to check for multiple reference would believe the satirical stories it runs.

NBC, which cited the National Report news, insisted that there was a mention of RFID chips in the original draft of the Obamacare bill, but the opposition by some groups to the mandatory chip implant led to its removal from the bill.

The same NBC article claimed that IBM has been preparing the American public for a Mark of the Beast scenario years ago. The article included this video embed from the most popular video sharing site which is actually an IBM commercial.

YouTube/TheWadri