Okay, people. You’re my friends. I like you. But you’re all big kids now, and it shouldn’t be difficult to notice the various scams and hoaxes out there. So why do I keep getting invited to groups which I can tell are bogus from the name alone, without even having to look at the group details?
The latest: “Facebook Gold.”
Strike one: this is just another variation on the “Facebook is going to start charging” rumor, which has already been debunked.
Strike two: the group name is “~~UPGRADE NOW WHILE THEIR FREE~~”. What are the chances that, if Facebook were to introduce some sort of “gold” upgrade that…
- They’d do so using a Facebook group, instead of an official announcement.
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That the group name would be in ALL CAPITALS with cute little tildes (the squigglies) at either end.
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That the group name would have a friggin’ grammatical error in it (“their,” denoting posession, as in, “their education is lacking,” instead of “they’re,” the contraction of “they are”).
Strike three: when you go to the group, there are a number of things that should tip you off that this probably isn’t legit.
- The gold version of the facebook logo is mangled in the small version of the group icon at the top of the page.
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The title is “join now while they’re free,” implying that the free status is temporary. However, the text towards the top of the intro page says that “there will never be a charge to upgrade to Gold Membership Status.”
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The three steps to “upgrade.” If this were a real, official, Facebook-driven upgrade, why in the world would you have to go through these three steps?
- You wouldn’t need to “become a fan,” there would be a signup form or switch somewhere in the account settings.
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You wouldn’t need to “invite your friends” — and this step should be a major red flag, as that’s how the spammers/hoaxers behind these things get you to do the dirty work of spreading these things out to all your contacts — because Facebook would be pimping this new feature out.
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And you wouldn’t need to “visit [a] webpage” (the button for which, incidentally, is visually different from the rest of the Facebook-designed buttons…this should also be a red flag), because you’re already on the Facebook site.
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They invite you to leave a comment in what looks to be a Facebook-normal comment thread, but when you move your mouse arror to the text entry box, instead of changing to a text entry cursor, it changes to the “you’re about to click a link” pointy finger. Not normal behavior.
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If you do click on the comment box, rather than getting to enter a comment, you get taken to an ugly page that tells you that you have to complete a quick survey to complete the gold upgrade. I don’t know how many there might be, but the two choices I got were “Which Lady Gaga Song are You?” and — in a somewhat amusing burst of irony — “How DUMB are YOU?” At this point, if anyone still thinks this is an official Facebook thing…well, I don’t want to know you. Let me know, and I’ll take you off my friends list.
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If, rather than clicking on the comment box, you actually decide to look at the rest of the group information to try to determine its legitimacy, here’s what you’ll find:
- Under the “Info” tab: nothing. It’s completely blank.
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Under the “Wall” tab: nothing except a “~~UPGRADE NOW WHILE THEIR FREE~~ joined Facebook” notification.
Strike four: if you’re still not sure, if there’s still some small voice thinking that sure, it looks shady, but maybe it’s actually legit (sigh), then do the bare minimum of research. Go to Google and start typing “facebook gold account”. Before you even get past “gold”, Google pops up its list of suggestions. The first three:
- facebook gold account
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facebook gold account hoax
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facebook gold account scam
Really, people. How difficult is it to start looking at this stuff, fire up two brain cells to rub together, and figure out that this is crap?
Sadly, I guess the answer to that is “very,” as there are currently 89,874 “fans” who fell for this, some of whom are in my circle of friends. I don’t mean to be a jerk, and it’s rare that I get quite this ranty at people I know, but come on. You guys are smarter than this.
Please, people. Start thinking about what you see and read instead of just leaping blindly for every link you see. You’ll be less frustrated — and so will the rest of us.