Who doesn’t like being showered with gifts? Who is willing to send a $10 gift to some random stranger because ’tis the season’ (in a little less than two months)? Who is willing to send an address to a random stranger? Who is willing to break the law?
At first glance many do not read “scam” in the shared posts from friends, but people are hearing about this great idea, called the Secret Sister Gift Exchange, on Facebook and are sharing it around at a rapid rate.
The invite goes like this:
Those instructions include listing your personal information on a spreadsheet, and sending a gift to whoever is at the top of the list. The problem is that it does not add up. How do we know? It is not a new idea. Back in the 90’s chain letters, sending money around to people on a list until it was your turn, did the same thing.
“Chain letters don’t work because the promise that all participants in a chain letter will be winners is mathematically impossible,” the U.S. Postal Inspection Service writes.
Email chains in the 2000’s used the same ploy. This is just the Facebook rendition with a Christmas packaging.
“A lot of friends are doing it, or at least posting about it. Doesn’t sound like a good idea,” one young woman told WIAT news, adding it did not sound like a good idea to her.
While she believed handing out your address online is never a good idea, plus it was doubtful she would ever see any returned gifts, there is one other reason it is a terrible idea — its illegal. Facebook could close your site for posting it.
Nothing like a scam capitalizing on consumerism to share the Christmas season cheer.
