United Airlines ticket give-away is a scam.

[Laffy Kat]

Trending on FB. Can't believe I fell for it and shared. Don't make the same mistake.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. As always, the basic rule is,

If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

[Laffy Kat]

2. And I KNOW THAT.

That's why I'm so mad at myself. I'm usually more savvy. It came from another friend whom I trust because she travels so much. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

[lunasun]

3. What was it free tickets for info?

[Laffy Kat]

4. It didn't really say, which was another clue. I. Am. So. Clueless. nt

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Don't beat yourself up.

I suspect lots of people fell for this.

I saw it several days ago on FB, a post from a friend. I immediately posted that it had to be wrong. For one thing, I'm a former airline employee and so I KNOW free tickets don't happen. Ever. Well, unless you have the points to score one, but that's different.

I happen to have an unusually sensitive BS meter. I've also read lots and lots of stuff on urban legends (a fascinating topic all by itself) and I periodically read Snopes to catch up on stuff. I'm weird that way.

But then, I still haven't completely gotten over an encounter with Marilyn vos Savant or whatever the hell her name is, the supposedly smartest person ever, who posted something in her column some years back about "gullible" not being in the dictionary. When I fact-checked that, and learned that the word really was in the dictionary, and reported that, apparently that made me gullible. Huh? I fact check almost everything, and I'm still angry about that exchange.

So really, don't feel bad about this, just chalk it up to experience.

And maybe fact check everything, but that probably isn't necessary.

[KatyaR]

6. There's also one for Southwest that I saw last night.

nt