GREENSBORO, N.C. — As Coronavirus virus continues to spread, so does fake information online.
Our Verify team is here to set the record straight. If you see a story from us, you can trust it’s full of facts and not just promoting fear.
Now some pranksters are taking advantage of that trust we work hard to maintain with you.
Today we reported a fake post to Facebook as false news. A user from New York City posted a message about Coronavirus pretending it came from WFMY News 2.
In a few hours more than 80 people had already shared it.
The same message has been posted by other people using logos from other news stations across the country. All of the messages are fake.
So here are the warning signs:
The prank claims the government is requiring workplaces to give “paid mandatory leave” and that “all schools will be closed for 2 weeks.”
Then the post says you can get the full article by clicking a link. Factcheck.org clicked through and found the link was just a picture of a gorilla smiling.
This time it was just a joke. But next time it could be a scammer.
The FBI and North Carolina’s Attorney General have already warned that bad guys are looking for ways to take advantage of your concerns about Conoravirus. Clicking a link in a post might let them get your personal information or install spyware on your phones and computers. That’s why unless a post comes from our verified WFMY News 2 account with the blue check mark, the best thing to do is Google the topic and WFMY to see if the article is real. And of course you can always get the latest real facts about the Coronavirus on WFMYNews2.com and through our WFMY News 2 app.