The Simpsons’ knack of predicting the future has become legendary: Donald Trump’s presidency, smart watches and, incongruously, the 2016 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Now, a conspiracy theory has blown up on TikTok that alleges in a Season 6 episode - the specific one is unclear - there is a hidden code that, if entered into a “modern AI” chatbot, will reveal the date when people who see the video and carry out certain steps will become rich.
And the day this is all supposed to happen? September 1, 2026.
“If you go back and look at an old season six frame, there’s a background code that nobody paid attention to for decades,” TikTok user jacobhartman, who offers financial tips, claimed in an August 28 post. “But when people ran it through modern AI, it pointed straight to one date - Tuesday, September 1, 2026.”
Of course, the claim is just an Internet hoax - and possibly a quirky marketing tactic for finance influencer wannabes on social media.
It’s not the first time that The Simpsons has been used as part of a “get-rich-quick” ploy. A March 11 Facebook video used an identical script and claimed getting rich would happen March 13, 2026.
A December 12 TikTok from user Wealth Code Secrets, a financial advice channel, claimed the date was January 1, 2026. That post had more than 200,000 likes, comments, bookmarks and shares.
All the videos create a sense of urgency with the idea that people can get rich by taking a few simple steps - which come down to sharing the video, clicking the like button, leaving a comment and clicking a link in the bio.
That last part is the red flag - revealing the purpose of the clip is ultimately to push social media users to view or buy financial advice.
While the videos may not be scams, the tactics are similar to them.
A classic scam tactic “creates a sense of urgency or emergency to play on your emotions to get you to act quickly,” according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
And that’s the type of “FOMO” - fear of missing out - that the hoax videos leverage.
”The people who ignore this now are going to be the same ones saying in October, ‘S*** I missed that chance,’” the TikTok video on The Simpsons warns. “Don’t be that person - I’m definitely not going to be.”
But while you may love Homer, Marge and the gang, it pays to take a beat and consider your options before rushing headlong into following financial advice on social media.
“Some creators of financial content, even those with a large following, may lack professional training or expertise in household finance and are often unqualified to give accurate and reliable financial advice,” the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia noted last year.
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