Have you heard? All you have to do to become a famous star now is say OK. Well, according to Facebook trolls, that is.
Recently, specifically over Eid vacation, a new series of identical Facebook posts asking people to participate in the casting of some TV series in Ramadan 2020 started popping up everywhere on our timelines. Especially on renowned Facebook groups for hiring.
Who posts these posts?
Supposedly, “celebrities”.
All of those “hiring” Facebook posts are posted by Facebook pages with the names and pictures of celebrities.
Such as Amir Karara, Ahmed El Sakka, Emmy Samir Ghanem, Mohamed Ramadan, Mohamed Emam, and more.
What are these posts?
The content of pretty much all posts is as follows: whatever alleged celebrity that is posting thanks people for their support last Ramadan, wishes them a happy Eid, then announces the opening of the casting of their new series for Ramadan 2020 and encourages people to “apply” for said casting.
How, you asked?
Apparently, all you have to do is say OK.
No, this is not a punchline. This is literally the basic requirement in ALL posts. But of course, that’s not all!
Said “OK” has to be sent in a private message to said “celebrity”. And for bonus hardworking points, some posts asked people to share it in at least 5 Facebook groups or more.
Hence, why the “OK” thing went viral.
Did people believe it?
You better believe they did. No matter how much it spread and how many alleged “celebrities” posted pretty much THE EXACT SAME THING, people still shared, commented and sent messages. With the hope, of course, of cracking their way to stardom.
Or, well, “OKaying” their way to stardom.
Is there a chance it is true?
In case, somehow, you are one of those “hopefuls” who think there is a chance you make your stardom dream come true through a two-letter text message to a Facebook page, sorry to crush your dreams, but they can’t.
Because A. it is an obvious online trolling operation.
B. Amir Karara confirmed it himself, in case it wasn’t clear.
Why it’s scary that Karara had to clarify that?
Because falling for such a ridiculously obvious scam means that people will literally believe and do ANYTHING for the distant hope of getting a chance in front of the camera.
In other words, we are desperately desperate the dumbest false pretenses can get us to completely turn off our brains.
And if you are, or know someone who is participating in this OK scam, warn them to steer clear of this whole thing because only God knows if this is just a bunch of Facebook trolls with too much time on their hand, or is it a bigger operation with the purpose of lurking people for something far more dangerous. I.E. everything from robbing to human trafficking.
No, we are not being dramatic. Because yes, humans can be VERY VERY evil.
Of course on a less scary note, it could just be a good ol’ click bait to gather a crowd base for the pages and sell them later for whatever commercial purposes.
How to avoid falling for such a scam?
There is this little blue sign that appears next to the names of Facebook accounts or pages called the verification sign. Said blue sign is given from Facebook to accounts of “Public Figures” to prevent copycatting and online scams, exactly like this one.
If you don’t find this little blue sign next to the account’s name, then it’s not an official account. Therefore, don’t believe anything that account posts or announces.
On a brighter, funnier side…
Luckily, Mohamed Henedy, i.e. the king of online burns was able to extract a joke out of the hilariously sad situation.
So, silver lining?
Note Sayed Ragab’s response.
