Man fools thousands of people into thinking he can predict future thanks to simple Facebook trick

His post 'predicted' several big events of 2016 and was shared hundreds of thousands of times

Just imagine, you're scrolling through your Facebook feed when you come across a post from a year ago.

While this itself isn't that unusual (especially with the popularity of 'Timehop' and 'On This Day'), what would you think of this particular post appeared to predict everything that's happened this year?

One man, Pablo Reyes, shocked thousands of Facebook users when a status from the end of last year resurfaced on the social media site.

It started off with a prediction that hasn't (yet) come true, saying Hillary Clinton will be the first female US President.

Then, spookily, it pre-empts the deaths of a gorilla , Muhammad Ali and Kimbo Slice and says the worst shooting in US history will happen in 2016.

Facebook Pablo Reyes tricks all of Facebook
Pablo Reyes tricks all of Facebook

It does also predict the death of Donald Trump, which hasn't happened.

Pablo claims we'll all 'remember his name', and that's probably true since his post has been shared over 170,000 times.

But it's not all it seems - as those who didn't buy into the status have pointed out.

It's actually just a Facebook trick and it's very simple to replicate.

How to 'predict the future'

All you have to do is write a status on your wall as usual.

But before posting, select the clock icon and set the date - which can be any time in the past (or you can schedule it for the future.)

Facebook post

Here we've picked a random selection of dates and times, but you can make it as spooky as you want.

And voila. Once you hit publish, it will appear in your timeline at the date you set, and you can trick all your friends into thinking you're psychic.

Facebook post

(Source: Mirror)