While it is nice to see your friends post something other than politics or pictures of dinner, if anyone of them post a message about a Christmas wine exchange, don’t do it. You may also want to tell them (nicely) to delete their post (perhaps by sharing this article with them?)or, if they are annoying, use this as a reminder to unfriend them already.
Turns out it is a big ol’ scam, along with something called the “Secret Sister Gift Exchange,” according to the Better Business Bureau – who has put out a warning:
Here is how this scheme works: If a consumer purchases one gift for a stranger, she will receive as many as 36 gifts in return. This type of gift exchange may seem reasonable enough in theory: six friends invite six more friends, who all send gifts to the participant in spot 1 before that person’s named is removed. This process repeats itself with the participant in the 2 spot, and so on.
Of course, starting this gift exchange comes with a catch – you need to disclose your personal information, such as your home address.
This is a typical pyramid scheme. This is on Facebook instead of the old way of using letters because social media allows it to spread a lot faster.
So yeah, like everything out there, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
(CBS News)
