A viral Facebook post that claims a “giant bat” was captured is just a Facebook scam.
There is no video and the link just sends you to a fake page that asks you to provide it access to your Facebook account to share it further.
It’s not recommended to allow the app access. Such posts can carry malware or lead users to fake surveys, which then collect personal information to make money for the scammers.
“GIANT BAT CAPTURED, What is it?” the post reads. It includes a photo with what appears to be a large bat with a YouTube-style play button over it.
The image used in the post is likely a fake, according to an expert in 2012. The image went viral at the time.
Director of the Australian Bat Clinic, Trish Wimberley, told MSN that some bats can have a wingspan of 5 feet, there’s no way a bat could get that large.
She said the image was likely doctored.
“You only need to look at the knife above the picture to see the proportion of the bat to the proportion of the knife,” Wimberley told the website. “It’s like when you catch a fish, if you hold it in front of you it looks gigantic.”
A bat species known as the golden-capped fruit bat or giant golden-crowned flying fox can get a wingspan of 5 feet.
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