# So what's with the masks being hawked on Facebook? Scam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 16, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074 "2020-10-16T04:38:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074/21 "2020-10-16T20:29:18Z")
If I were you I’d hold out for a live monkey or a submarine. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074/22 "2020-10-16T20:50:22Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > So the masks in the videos are not what they are actually selling? Or the video somehow makes them look better than what they really are? Bait and switch scams are really, really common on Facebook and other social media ads - I’ve only really had in-depth experience of the phenomenon with tech products, but any type of product where there is a high quality version is probably prone to this. The scammers steal images, ad copy and video from real products (usually high value and desirable quality), hack it around to remove conspicuous branding, spin up a quick shopify store and sell it at what appears to be absurdly low prices. What they actually send will sometimes be a very cheap, inferior product of the same general type (so they can claim it was an honest mistake), or sometimes they just dropship any cheap product like a pair of sunglasses or a keychain, in order to get tracking info for a despatched item, which tricks PayPal or the credit card company into thinking the transaction is legit and enables the scammer to withdraw your payment and disappear with it. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074/23 "2020-10-16T21:26:29Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > If I were you I’d hold out for a live monkey or a submarine. The monkeys advertised in comic books were freaking real. They’d send you a live squirrel monkey. It was insane. Google it. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074/24 "2020-10-16T22:01:00Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > The monkeys advertised in comic books were freaking real. IIRC they were “sea monkeys,” which is a name for a type of brine shrimp. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074/25 "2020-10-16T22:07:03Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > > [@pkbites](#): > > > > The monkeys advertised in comic books were freaking real. > > IIRC they were “sea monkeys,” which is a name for a type of brine shrimp. - That’s a separate thing. There was a time you could order real, live monkeys (and alligators among other wildlife) from those ads. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074/26 "2020-10-16T22:16:37Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > As far as I can tell, if it’s being advertised on Facebook and seems to be an amazing deal, it’s a scam. This. don’t buy anything from Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2020, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074/27 "2020-10-16T22:22:35Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > > > > [@pkbites](#): > > > > > > The monkeys advertised in comic books were freaking real. > > > > IIRC they were “sea monkeys,” which is a name for a type of brine shrimp. - > > That’s a separate thing. There was a time you could order real, live monkeys (and alligators among other wildlife) from those ads. Yep. Google squirrel monkey comic book. There are some horror stories regarding them. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074/28 "2020-10-17T00:28:11Z")
There were also real monkeys. I ordered sea monkeys, but wasn’t disappointed when they were brine shrimp. I’d read in a Jacques Costeau book about them, so I was kind of excited about it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074/29 "2020-10-17T00:56:32Z")
I Googled. [Here](https://www.npr.org/2014/04/25/306868280/monkey-madness)’s one such story. It’s on the NPR website, so it should be accessible by anyone. And it’s kind of hilarious but also very, very sad. And there were other, similar stories in the search results. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074/30 "2020-10-17T06:08:37Z")
Whatever you do, make sure you take it off right away if a Silver Shamrock ad comes on the TV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-the-masks-being-hawked-on-facebook-scam/923074.md?page=1)