Heres why Facebook posts asking you to copy and paste instead of sharing could be scamming you

Publish date: 2024-05-05

With more and more people using social media to communicate on a daily basis, it’s easy to fall for scams, especially when they’re disguised so well.

If you’ve ever seen one of your pals post a status on Facebook asking you to copy and paste it instead of sharing, you might’ve done so without question - or you might’ve wondered why.

The posts will often say something like: “A study says only 5% of people read a Facebook status right to the end. Copy and past if you’re one of those 5%.”

They may have some sort of emotional hook concerning illness, or encourage you to ‘discover your porn star name’.

So why do these posts ask you to copy and paste rather than sharing? And how can it be potentially scamming you?

When we see our friends post these statuses, most of us don’t question it and we agree to copy and paste rather than share, which is why these kinds of posts have now spread so far and wide.

There are many possible reasons behind the ‘copy and paste’ request.

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1. Friend restrictions

If you share a friend’s post, it may not reach as many people as it would if you had copy and pasted it, if their own profile has restrictions on who can see their posts. The original poster wants to message to be spread as far as possible, so encourages people to copy and paste it as their own so that more people see it and do the same.

2. To protect the identity of the original poster

If you share a post and the original post gets deleted, then it will disappear from your own timeline. But if you copy and paste the post and the original post gets deleted, it will not affect yours. This means the original poster can delete their post - their message still spreads but it cannot be traced back to them.

3. Self-selection for scammers

Some of these ‘copy and paste’ posts contain a phrase or misspelled word which is easily searchable for the original poster (and potential scammer). If people are sharing their message, they can search this phrase or word and find out who is posting their message. They can then target these people for further scams.

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4. To get personal information

Many of the posts will encourage you to share certain personal information such as your name, the street you live on, your pet’s name, and so on. These are usually disguised as “Discover your superhero name” posts, possibly to avoid attracting suspicion. The original poster can then access this information, some of which may be used as passwords.

5. To clone your account

This is where things get really dark. You may have gotten a friend request in the past from a clone account, usually a clone of someone you are already friends with on Facebook. The people who create these are out to scam unsuspecting victims, sometimes using information found in these ‘copy and paste’ Facebook statuses.

The next time you see a post asking you to copy and paste, think twice before doing so. You can like it, you can share it, but avoid copy and pasting it as your own unless you know it’s safe.

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