A new form of fraud via WhatsApp has emerged. Malicious parties use the official account. You need to know this!
Beware: new WhatsApp fraud (scam via official account)
There is a new method of WhatsApp fraud going around. But this time the scam via WhatsApp is extra vicious. Bad actors use the official WhatsApp account to steal your data.
They do this by spoofing WhatsApp’s official number. This means that they can send messages that appear to come from the official WhatsApp account. The messages sent end up in the chat channel where WhatsApp sends you the security codes.
The message you receive there states that your account is being blocked. And that you must first confirm your details. Below you will find a link to a WhatsApp page where you can do this.
It all seems very reliable, but if you look closely, you can see from the spelling errors in the message and the extra characters in the web address that you are dealing with a fake website. For example, you can see that the URL is not www.whatsapp.com, but contains a number of extra letters.
When you visit the website, you will be asked to verify various information. If you enter this information, the culprits will now have access to your entire WhatsApp account.
At the moment, the criminals are mainly targeting German WhatsApp users, but it won’t be long until this new method of fraud and scams via WhatsApp will also start in other countries.
What’s extra annoying is that the culprits seem to use the official account. You may quickly think that you can trust the message, but nothing could be further from the truth. That is why it remains important to always remain alert to messages from official channels.
Check your connected devices in WhatsApp
Fortunately, you can check whether your number is being used by criminals. You do this by checking which devices are connected to your WhatsApp account. You can then disconnect the connection. You do this in the following way.
Disconnect paired devices on WhatsApp
- Open WhatsApp and tap ‘Settings’;
- Tap ‘Paired devices’ in the overview;
- Under the heading ‘Linked devices’ you will find all devices that have access to your WhatsApp account. Tap the device;
- Select ‘Log out > Log out’ to disconnect.
If you have nothing listed under Linked devices, then no other devices are connected to your WhatsApp account. This does not mean that malicious parties cannot misuse your data, such as your name. But at least you’re making it a lot more difficult for them.
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