WHATSAPP users are being bombarded with a new scam that starts off innocently but can spiral into blackmail and full-on identity theft, even compromising users’ bank information.
The WhatsApp scam begins with a text you might’ve sent before: “Hi, who is this?”
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“I found you in my address book,” the scammer usually continues, perhaps making excuses about using a new device, or trying to clean up their contacts list.
After establishing that they don’t know you, the scammer will get friendly, sending pictures alleged to be of themselves, and then asking to be added on Facebook.
Once they have information about your life, work, and friends they blackmail you.
The team at WABetaInfo warns that the WhatsApp scammers may use real photos of you (if you sent them) or photoshopped ones as a basis for blackmail.
They’ll threaten to share the photos with your contact network unless you give them an absurd amount of money.
The scammer might even replicate your Facebook account so they can pose as you, and do damage to your reputation on social media.
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The easiest way to avoid being taken advantage of is to delete the WhatsApp message right away.
You can also block and report the sender for attempting to scam you.
Another crafty WhatsApp scam involves distressed texts from scammers posting as kids asking their parents for cash.
Whatsapp warned users in the fall of 2021 about the scam that could see criminals steal thousands from them.
The brazen crooks pretend to be adult children or teens texting from a new device, and many parents don’t think twice about the strange switch.
However, anytime a request for a big sum of money comes from someone you know, it’s best to reach out to that person via phone call or a different messaging platform and find out if the query is legitimate.
All 2BILLION WhatsApp users urged to turn on privacy feature now
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
