Our Top 5 Hoaxes of 2014
We know what you’re thinking.
“I wonder what the top 5 hoaxes were in 2014 according to ThatsNonsense.com”
Okay, you probably weren’t thinking that at all. But for those of you with 5 minutes to spare and an interest in the topic, we compile the top 5 hoaxes of 2014 based on our user submissions, queries and Internet hits.
5. The Facebook privacy notice
Most of you will have seen a message posted on your newsfeed that reads something like “Due to changes on Facebook, I hereby declare that…. Blah blah blah”
It’s basically supposed to be a message claiming that by posting it you are protecting your information from Facebook and other people.
Of course you’re not. You’re only making yourself look gullible, believing in nonsense because it has some fancy sounding words in it. This same hoaxes has been spreading since 2012 and hit our top 5 spot last year as well, and retains that spot for 2014.
Posting something on your newsfeed has literally zero effect on what others can do with your information. Period.
Our full article can be seen here.
4. A giant 50 foot crab in Whitstable
In a story that even had the UK mainstream media reporting on it comes a photo of what appears to be a giant 50 foot crab hiding in the waters off Whitstable.
However not all was as it seemed. The photo was from a serial prankster, as it turned out – and a little online sleuthing revealed the original photo of Whitstable was taken from a Bing satellite image, minus the giant crab.
Of course the story picked up pace thanks to various media outlets, despite being outed as a hoax. The rumour made it to our number 4 spot in the week or so it was active. See the full story here.
3. 31 US Troops die in Afghanistan “yesterday”
This ever persistent message claims that 31 US troops died in Afghanistan and implores readers to commemorate the victims by sharing the message.
However, despite being based on a real event that occurred in 2011, the message constantly circulates virally even today since the author attributed the event as occurring only “yesterday” – not helpful since messages like these can continue to be spread for months, even years after they’ve been authored.
Of course passing the message on is unhelpful, and causes unneeded worry for those with friends and family serving abroad. We discuss the message here and offer a perhaps more effective way of commemorating those killed or injured in action.
2. Facebook Messenger and its alarming permissions
Whether you describe this as a hoax or an overblown warning depends very much on the reader, but what we do know is that warnings spreading across the Internet claiming that the new Facebook Messenger App was able to do all sorts of nefarious activities on your phone went mega viral in August 2014.
It started when several startled users uploaded videos online showing the permissions requested by the new Facebook Messenger app that Facebook were pushing onto its users. However the authors of these videos failed to understand that the mobile phone operators (Google [Android] and Apple] group related permissions, and have done so for some time, often affording apps more permissions and capabilities than they need as a result. The same issues occur for most mobile apps.
This didn’t stop many thinking that Facebook were going to be reading their text messages, making unauthorised calls and accessing basically everything stored on their phone. We discussed the rumours here.
1. The Terrifying Blackhead Video
In December 2014 we reported on a rogue Facebook app scam doing the rounds, automatically posting links to a video about a man removing his “terrifying blackhead” that proved to be one of the most successful rogue Facebook app links we’ve seen in a while.
As we often report, installing Facebook apps in order to see a video [or some other type of page content] is never recommended, especially if its related to this kind of spammy topic. The Facebook apps can potentially be malicious and divert you to spammy, malware infested webpages outside of Facebook. And that is exactly what happened with this entry.
Our Sixty Second Scam YouTube channel covered this spam. Watch the video here.
Related articles –
Top 5 hoaxes of 2013
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