This message which claims that Casey Andrews - the mother charged and acquitted of murdering her 3 year old daughter - is going to make money from selling her story as a book and a movie is - at best - pure speculation.

Ever since the acquittal of Casey Anthony in July last year in what may have dubbed the "social media trial of the century" there has been constant speculation on the Internet as to whether there will be a book or TV deal or a possible "first interview", and how much that would be worth. Such speculation has continued throughout 2011 into 2012, even leading to further speculation as to what would happen if she did sign any sort of deal. However as it stands, there have been NO confirmations of any kind of deal, only denials from Casey Anthonys attorney.

The assertion in the rumour that claims Entertainment Tonight outed the book and movie deal is unsubstantiated. There is nothing on their website to confirm the story. We do know the message above began to circulate in August 2011 but has picked up momentum during early January 2012, most likely down to bizarre videos that have begun to surface of Casey that is claimed to have been sold to news outlets.

Whilst a boycott of any book or movie deal regarding the Casey Anthony case may be understandable, it is not recommended to circulate this message because it is based purely on speculation. Of course if any book or movie deal is confirmed there is likely to be plenty of time to start a viral campaign to boycott it, but since nothing has been confirmed - or ever likely to be - this message is rather pointless.


The Internet, and social networking sites like Facebook, are perfect platforms for spreading untruths, misinformation, rumor and propaganda. Thousands of inaccurate, exaggerated, deceptive or just plain false messages are circulated every single day.

For the anti-scam community to successfully tackle this plethora of false rumours, it is important that anyone who uses the Internet be able to identify false rumours and fully understands the possible consequences of spreading false information.

We have a two part blog post that helps provide this information. Part 1 deals with how to spot and debunk Internet rumours and Part 2 deals with the reasons why you should never circulate false information.

Additionally if you have fallen for this rumour or have Facebook friends that have, you can join our growing Facebook page here.