Robin Williams didn’t “say goodbye with his cell phone” before killing himself, and it’s just a Facebook-spread scam.
The post, which emerged last week after Williams allegedly committed suicide, features a photo of him looking directly into the camera.
“Exclusive video: Robin Williams says goodbye with his cell phone before hanging himself,” it reads.
However, when one clicks on the post, they’re taken to a BBC-looking website that asks them to share it before going further--a telltale sign that it’s a scam.
After the users shares the post, they’re taken to another page which asks them to fill out surveys. The surveys are the way in which the scammers make their money.
“If you attempt to share, you will only ask you to like, share the same page or complete surveys in order to verify your age. But, it is the fake page that the scammers want you to ‘like’ or share, which will make it popular. Once the page is popular, these scammers can sell it to online marketers or other scammers. They will also make money from the surveys that are completed by gullible Facebook users who were tricked into completing them,” says Online Threat Alerts of the scam.
Facebook has indicated that it will try to clean up users’ news feed earlier this year. “Some stories in News Feed use inaccurate language or formatting to try and trick people into clicking through to a website that contains only ads or a combination of frequently circulated content and ads. For instance, often these stories claim to link to a photo album but instead take the viewer to a website with just ads,” the company said in April.
There’s also been rumors about alleged photos of Williams’ body after he died, but those were actually part of a hoax to harass his daughter, Zelda Williams, on Twitter.
On Sunday, a video was released of Williams’ “last message” to a terminally ill woman. It was posted on YouTube.
