‘Bad Luck if You Don’t Like and Type Amen’ Scam Facebook Posts

The posts are callous and immoral scams designed simply to promote the Facebook Profiles or Pages of those who post them. The images are stolen from other sources and used without permission. Do not help these disgusting scammers by liking or commenting on their posts.

Many Facebook users will have likely encountered at least one post that threatens bad luck if they do not type ‘amen’ and hit the ‘like’ button. There are many variations, but the posts generally feature an image of a person with a series injury or, very often, a sick baby. The posts suggest that people who do not participate will suffer bad luck for a specified number of years. Many put this supposed punishment period at 7 years. But, some suggest much longer time scales. One I saw recently promised a whopping 68 years of bad luck for those users terrible enough not to type amen and click like on the post.

Along with the ‘bad luck’ threat, which is apparently taken seriously by a surprisingly large number of people, the messages imply that your ‘like’ and ‘amen’ will somehow help the pictured person. Some versions drive home the point by claiming that those who scroll down without participating must be heartless or cruel people who do not care about others.

But, of course, the only cruel and heartless people in this scenario are the vile and morally bankrupt individuals who create and post these messages in the first place. These callous users wilfully steal images of injured people or sick babies from other websites and use them in their disgraceful scam posts. Of course, these people care not one iota for the welfare of the people whose images they steal.

So, why, you might ask, would they do such a thing? Sadly, they do so just to promote their Facebook Profile or Page. Once one of these fake posts is launched, it will be spread very quickly across the network by well-meaning, albeit somewhat gullible and superstitious, users. The perpetrators will thus gain many new friends, followers or Page likes which will allow them to get the dodgy material they later post seen by a considerably larger audience. The Facebook Pages or accounts might also be sold on the black market to other scammers.

The people who use such tactics have no place on our social networks and deserve only our contempt and derision. Please do not help these scammers by liking and commenting on their posts. Remember that participating will not help the pictured people in any way whatsoever.