WhatsApp scams have been growing lately.
WhatsApp is currently one of the most used cross-platform messaging applications. The app has millions of users, which also attracts a lot of scammers and hackers. We have seen quite a lot of scams in the past but a new type of a scam has started emerging in the WhatsApp community. In this scam, a WhatsApp account pretending as WhatsApp technical team asks users to share their verification code.
In order to make sure users fall into the trap, the scammers even use the WhatsApp logo as the profile picture. However, the Facebook-owned giant does not communicate with users via just a WhatsApp message. The company makes all the public announcements via its official Twitter handle.
A Twitter user reported the above scam as he received a text from an unknown number claiming to be from the WhatsApp technical team. The tweet was highlighted by WABetaInfo in order to bring this to the attention of more WhatsApp users across the globe.
According to the tweet by Dario Navarro, the scammer has sent a message in Spanish asking users to verify their identity by providing their six-digit verification code that will be sent via an SMS message.
This verification code is nothing but the OTP that users receive on the phone when trying to register the WhatsApp number on a new smartphone. If the user ends up giving this OTP to someone else, they might set it up on their phone and potentially hack into your WhatsApp.
This will not give them access to your recent chats and contacts. However, any message received after the hack will be sent to their phone. Also, the scammer will get access to your profile picture, status as well as the groups you are added in. From those groups, the scammer can even pick up other numbers.
In order to stay away from such scams, you just need to keep in mind that the company never asks for any personal details. Also, one should never share an OTP no matter who the next person is claiming to be.
