Have you ever heard of someone who was rewarded with millions of dollars just for copying and pasting text? It sounds like a hard job to get, because it is — it doesn’t exist. That’s why no one is going to get free shares of Facebook stock simply by slapping a chunk of text into a status message and posting it. You will, however, get more people to realize how gullible you are.
In the most recent iteration of this particular Facebook hoax, the kind that somehow seeps into the collective conscious so thoroughly that even people you thought would know better succumb to it, users are copying and pasting a message that says by doing so, they could win free Facebook shares.
This particular hoax seems to have a long life, and first appeared in early December before gaining steam again over Christmas. If you have posted that status in recent weeks, you probably already know that four hours from when you posted it, no one announced that any Facebook shares were being distributed to lucky posters.
This all seems to stem from Zuckerberg’s real announcement that he and his wife, Priscilla, would be giving away nearly all of their Facebook shares — 99% — to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, LLC. The announcement was tied to the news of the birth of their daughter Max, in late November. But though that might’ve been discussed on Good Morning America, nowhere in the statement did Zuckerberg say the 99% would go to Facebook users who know how to copy and paste status messages.
It’s not too late to take that status down before too many people see it. And next time, take a quick spin on Google to see if what you’re posting for the world to see is a hoax. If it involves millionaires giving strangers money for no good reason, it’s probably not true. You also won’t be charged to keep your profile private if you don’t share something.
We reached out to Facebook for an official comment on the hoax messages and will update this post if we hear back.
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist