Facebook Gold is a scam – don’t fall for it, don’t click on it, don’t like it

February 17, 2010 by pfeifer

: Image via CrunchBase

Facebook Gold is a scam. Don’t fall for it, don’t click on it, don’t like it.

Many people are passing around an invitation to their Facebook friends to sign up for a group called Facebook Gold. Sometimes it is an offer for a free membership (while they last), other times it is just a suggestion that you join the group.

The idea is enticing. After all, who wants to be a regular Facebook member when you can be a Gold member? So why isn’t Facebook promoting it directly on the site? God knows they post enough advertisements on every page. But nothing about Facebook Gold?

A Google search produces numerous websites that say it is this great program that lets you upgrade your Facebook account, and it only costs $9.95 a year. Then other sites say it is a scam that harvests your private data. Some think it is a harmless prank. One of the links turns up a Facebook group link that no longer works. There’s a pretty big clue.

Then it occurred to me that Facebook has a Help Center. Why not just check the source? When I did, the search result was “I’ve got nothing for you. Your search term did not match any answers from Facebook.” There’s an even bigger clue.

You don’t have to be a researcher for Snopes.com to know that if Facebook doesn’t know what Facebook Gold is, it isn’t a legitimate program. Speaking of which, I checked Snopes.com but they don’t have anything on this scam yet. However, the best guess is that Facebook Gold is another incarnation of the 4Chan Gold Account scam.

Don’t fall for the trap. Stay away from Facebook Gold, unless you want to fall for a phishing scam and/or pay out money for nothing.

See also:

Facebook Gold Account Logo

Gold Membership Trolling

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