
Is FEMA -- the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- giving away "free money" by sending $1,000 checks next week to everyone? No, that's not true: This started as a joke, but you might not realize it unless you click on a suspicious link that leads you to a photo of a gorilla flipping off the camera.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) shared on Facebook on July 13, 2020. The post read:
HERES SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU ALL SMILE.....GO GET YOUR FREE MONEY !!! First check STIMULUS, 2nd check FEMA, THEY GIVING AWAY MONEY........THANK ME LATER !!!πππππππMake sure you guys fill out the application for FEMA assistance so you can get that $1000 check next week. Everyone can get a FEMA Check Follow The Link ASAP #FreeMoney #blacklivesmatter #sharealaugh
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Jul 14 16:52:07 2020 UTC)
This was the photo the "application for FEMA assistance" link took Facebook users to when they clicked it:
This Facebook post comes about two weeks before the current July 31 deadline of the $600 per week federal unemployment benefit program. As of July 14, 2020, a new federal benefits program was not in place to follow up this fast-approaching deadline.