Sophos Cloud Optix
Hoaxes and chain letters never die it seems. There’s always someone spreading them unwittingly on Facebook to their family and friends, in the mistaken belief that it’s better to share a message “just in case it’s true”
Take this example, forwarded to us by Naked Security reader Phil, which claims that Facebook will donate 45 cents per share for a shot boy’s surgery.
A 14 YEAR OLD BOY WAS SHOT 6 TIMES BY HIS STEPFATHER. THIS BOY WAS PROTECTING HIS LITTLE 6 YEAR OLD SISTER WHO WAS ABOUT TO BE RAPED BY THIS POOR... EXCUSE OF A MAN. THE LITTLE GIRL DID GET HURT, THANKS TO HER BRAVE OLDER BROTHER. THEIR MOM WAS AT WORK WHEN THIS HAPPENED. NOW THIS BRAVE YOUNG LITTLE BOY IS FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE,BUT DOCTORS SAY HE WILL NOT SURVIVE UNLESS HE GETS AN OPERATION WHICH IS COSTLY AND HIS MOM CANNOT PAY. FACEBOOK COMPANIES HAVE AGREED TO DONATE 45 CENTS FOR EVERY TIME SOMEONE SHARE THIS MESSAGE SO, PLEASE CLICK SHARE SO THAT TOGETHER WE CAN HELP SAVE THIS BOUS LIFE......NSFTBC! If you had a heart you'd do it, It will only take a minute of your time!
Does it ring any bells with you? It should do if you’re a long-term reader of Naked Security as we warned of a similar bogus chain letter spreading in late 2011, telling a near-identical story.
There are some differences this time. For instance, rather than a picture of a boy’s bloodied torso being shared across the social network, the message is being spread via a mobile phone snapshot.
Presumably the message is being spread in this way in the hope that it will be able to waltz past Facebook’s text filtering technologies.
Of course, you shouldn’t believe the claim that Facebook is donating any money.
If Facebook were to ever donate money for a young boy’s surgery, think for just a moment – would they really be so crass as to base it upon the number of times a message was shared?
Further clues that should tell you that the story is bogus, is that there is no information to support the story of a young boy being attacked or the pay-per-share scheme. There’s no link to an official Facebook blog entry, no link to a news story on a legitimate news outlet.
If a friend of yours shares a message with you like this on Facebook, remind them about the importance of not spreading chain letters and suggest that they inform all of their friends that they were mistaken.
Don’t forget you should join the Naked Security from Sophos Facebook page, where we not only debunk hoaxes and chain letters, but we also keep you up-to-date on the latest security and privacy issues threatening Facebook users.
People should learn how internet advertising and earning money from ads work before believing such nonsense.Besides,the message itself has errors…
Wait, I thought that everything on the interwebs had to be true?
You've neglected to mention another important factor. If someone–ESPECIALLY a child–needs lifesaving surgery after such an incident, he or she will get that surgery REGARDLESS of ability to pay!
In addition, any charges for the medical procedure would be incurred by the stepfather, not the mother.
One of my friends insisted that his entry was true because he got it from his sister. His sister then put a message insisting that I was the one in the wrong; besides what's wrong with being safe "just in case". When I see one of those I just tag it as being spam. Better than arguing with someone that won't listen.
Oh man… I got it from my sister so it's true. Well you're right… there's no argueing with that. But it doesn't do wonders for the faith in humanity's intellect. 😀
I always google it to see if there's real time any news relating to the articles – makes more sense but, I dont share these anyway, lord you'd be off your head if you believed half the crap that goes on fb ………………….. supposedly !!
problem is, my friends are getting fed-up with me telling them they've fallen for yet another hoax
why are people so gullible – do they never think to themselves maybe this isn't true
It baffles me how people who repost and like these things can actually believe them! It's madness! The only people who get money per like, is Mark Zuckerburg!
A message that's written in screaming BLOCK CAPITALS just has to be true.
It's really annoying how few people check before spreading this kind of nonsense, and it amazes me how many people believe something like this so readily. I have lost count how many times my elder relatives back in Asia sent me all sorts of stories that would give fairy-tale authors a run for their money, and each of them would add some of their comments every time they re-sent the stories, as a kind word of advice. When I gently told them that those were hoax, they were not happy at all. But the good thing is that they don't send me this kind of things any more.
"If Facebook were to ever donate money for a young boy's surgery, think for just a moment – would they really be so crass as to base it upon the number of times a message was shared?"
Would FB be so crass? Uh – is this *meant* to be an oxymoron?
your are right. facebook dont donate money.
I passed this message on to my daughter and others
And thought I was doing a good thing as I don’t spread lies myself I am gullible enough to believe it must be true and did not check to see if it was so just reposted by instinct believing I was helping a family/ human being in need, but after reading messages leading to this comment section I feel very gullible and ignorant and will either look into each item before i resend or not resend at all. I can’t stand that corruption and dishonesty are rampant and some one is enjoying their efforts at causing unnecessary troubles to others,strange people, well sorry to those whose time I’ve wasted for reposting that rubbish, live and learn.
The hoax of 14 year old boy shot by stepdad is on again. I got up this morning with a message from a friend about this. My ID has been stolen once before, so anytime I see something like this I check first. Thank you for separating fiction from facts.
This hoax has surfaced again. It was shared by a friend of mine. The first thing that stood out for me was if this boy was shot six times, and presumably unconscious, how do the police have all the facts about what happened. I googled the story immediately and found the truth on naked security.