If you’re a regular user of Facebook, you’ve probably seen your fair share of scams and bogus stories on Facebook. Perhaps you’ve even inadvertently shared and perpetuated some of them. While many would think that “common sense” would prevail at all times, it’s easy to get tricked when a friend, family member or someone you trust shares such a post and your intentions are good.
Why not make a resolution for the new year to become a better “citizen” of the Facebook community by helping to stop the spread of these scams and rumors? Here are 4 Facebook pages that I recommend you “like” immediately. Most, if not all of these have searchable websites too. So before you share that post that Disney World is giving away a free vacation for 4 people plus a Visa Gift Card worth $1,000 for spending money, or BMW is giving away a free sports car worth over $50,000, or that posting a legal disclaimer will somehow protect your privacy, please do a little homework using these sites:
- Facecrooks: https://www.facebook.com/Facecrooks
- ThatsNonsense: https://www.facebook.com/thatsnonsense
- Hoax Slayer: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hoax-Slayer/69502133435
- Snopes: https://www.facebook.com/snopes
If you realize you’ve shared a post that’s bogus, the best thing you can do is delete the post from your timeline. If the post was a give-away scam that required you to authorize a sweepstakes app, you should delete that app immediately. If you want to be a good Facebook citizen, you can even private message your friends who might have shared the story from your timeline and encourage them to delete the post too. Lastly, it couldn’t hurt to change your Facebook password, which you should do regularly anyway.
My best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2015!
Arthur Catalanello Consulting 
Great way to end/start the new year! 🙂