I have to admit that I am always amused when I see stories of celebrities who have made their fortune, in Oprah’s case about $2.8 billion, by talking themselves up and later warn the public about some Internet scam using their name. It is a bit confusing because when Oprah came out on Twitter to warn people about scamsters “asking for money if you sign up for an OWN account on Instagram.” I couldn’t tell if she was more concerned about her brand or her fans.
She continued, “Don’t give up any of your bank accounts or personal information to anybody posing as me or anyone else for that matter. And have a merry Christmas.” The scam was that if you signed up for an OWN account (her cable network) on Instagram, Oprah would send you a random amount up to $5,000 — deposited into your bank account, naturally. All the scamsters needed was your bank info. How clever.
Some who covered the story noted that Oprah was famous for her giveaways over the years to her studio audience. Once she gave away a car to everyone who attended the show. Checking the Internet, I found that she has almost 41 million followers on Twitter. So I did some simple math and calculated that if only 5% of those followers (about 2,000,000) were to accept the offer it would cost her $10 billion to pay everyone off. That’s a lot more than 100 or so cars. The actual fake Tweet limited the giveaway to the first 100,000 takers, which would total as much as $500 million or roughly 1/6th of her total net worth.
That prompts the question, why would anyone believe Winfrey would give away any of her money to a total stranger (audience members really are not in this category). But it gets even worse. The BBC article reported that people could “receive handouts as large as $5,000 (£3,700).” But even this is deceptive as the actual Tweet reads, “a Christmas giveaway of $5,000 to the first 100,000 followers.” $5,000 divided among 100,000 followers is $.05 — a nickel.
This did not apparently register with many of her followers, as the BBC quoted some actual responses to the fake offer.
One person who accepted the fake offer wrote, “I really hope this works”
Another related her personal situation. She is a mother facing homelessness and wrote that even if the offer turns out to be fake she is willing to take the chance of cashing in on a free $5k. She Tweeted about it being fake, “if it is oh well.” In her mind, any chance of getting Christmas money, no matter how small that chance, was worth the risk of exposing her bank accounts.
A third example had one woman calling the fake Oprah “Ma’am” and called Oprah her idol. She said if she was lucky enough to get any money (apparently the $5,000) it would help her build her business and prayed she would be on the receiving end.
There is an underlying sadness and in some ways, desperation, to these people’s lives. In the Christmas spirit, wouldn’t it be nice if Oprah gave something to these people? This suggestion is not about blaming her for the illegal actions of others, but about her fans and followers. One woman is approaching homelessness and another calls Oprah her “idol.”
I’m not counting on Oprah doing any such thing. But here’s hoping you had a Merry Christmas free from any Oprah trappings. You have been warned.
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