WhatsApp, as the most used instant messaging application in the world due to its almost 100 billion messages a day, is often the favorite target of attackers looking for ways to get hold of personal information and, in some cases, to steal the account of the application of Facebook.
Beware of this scam via WhatsApp
In these days, in fact, the number of users who are coming into contact with a scam attempt conveyed through WhatsApp is once again worrying. Specifically, how we had seen a few months ago, several users in the Rimini area are receiving a message with this text or a variant of it: “Hi, I sent you a 6-digit code by mistake, could you please remember?“.
The code in question, sent via SMS, is the one necessary for theactivation of the WhatsApp account. The unfortunate who sends the six-digit code to the attacker on duty is in fact giving the keys of his WhatsApp profile to strangers. The victims of the scam could also suffer the theft of data saved inside their smartphone such as passwords, files, credentials to access banking applications and so on.
In these cases it is good to never forget some simple rules that are extremely useful to keep yourself safe from these theft attempts:
- never provide anyone codes received via SMS, even if the request comes from a contact in the address book;
- do not open external links attachments in an SMS or message received;
- enable two-factor authentication on WhatsApp via the route Settings> Accounts> Two-Step Verification.
You may also be interested in: what to do in case of theft of the WhatsApp account
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