Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are generous people. But don't expect your share of their billions any time soon.
As Tech Insider notes, a message circulating on Facebook excitedly suggests that "people like you and me" can earn a piece of Zuckerberg's wealth by simply copying and pasting a message to their feed. If the poor spelling and grammar didn't tip you off, though, the message is a hoax, as are most Facebook messages that promise something in exchange for using a copied and pasted message as your status.
The memo comes less than a month after Zuckerberg and Chan announced plans to donate 99 percent of their Facebook shares to their new philanthropic enterprise, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
"Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people, and building strong communities," the duo wrote in a letter to their newborn daughter, Max.
As you may have noticed, their note does not mention helping you pay off your student loans or buying you a new car.
Facebook did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.
It remains unclear how many people have shared the fake proclamation. But this is not the first time folks have been duped by phony Facebook scams.
In September, cyber scammers rolled out a faux "dislike" button—a ruse that dates back to at least 2011. Days later, another long-running hoax re-emerged—that Facebook would begin charging for access.
The proliferation of these scams prompted the company earlier this year to crack down on bogus News Feed stories. A January update to the site aimed to "reduce the distribution of posts that people have reported as hoaxes." Facebook also added an annotation to flagged messages, reducing distribution of fake links, photos, videos, and status updates.
The social network, however, will not remove reported stories or review any content to determine its accuracy.