Hoax! Little boy needs 100 Facebook shares for a heart transplant

A new hoax is spreading between Facebook users, in the mistaken belief that sharing a picture of a sick boy in intensive care will grant him a heart transplant.

If this little boy gets 100 shares he can get his heart transplant for free

Of course, the message is nonsense – and simply clogs up Facebook users’ walls and newsfeeds. Think about it – is it really likely that a child will be given a heart transplant simply because enough people like a photograph on Facebook?

Another version of the hoax reads as follows:

I NEED AT LEAST 10000 SHARES.

Plz share….. Heart surgery free of cost for children (0-10 Yrs) Ph : 080-28411500 It might save some1’s life…! Sharing takes a second… in bangalore INDIA

More than likes, sharing can help !

According to the Urban Legends blog on About.com, the telephone number belongs to the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Whitefield in Bangalore, India. The clinic gives free medical assistance, and does not base surgery upon anything related to Facebook.

If a friend of yours shares a message with you like this…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.