WhatsApp has become this year the most used social network in Spain, according to the Study of Social Networks 2022and it is the most downloaded instant messaging app worldwide. This data does not go unnoticed by cybercriminals that on many occasions resort to this platform to defraud their victims.
The cybersecurity company CloudSEK has discovered a new scam for which attackers use WhatsApp. Specifically, the scam consists of cybercriminals make calls through the application with the aim of stealing the accounts of their victims.
As confirmed by CloudSEK, scammers try to convince their victims to dial a specific number to call from WhatsApp. By doing so, the user loses access to his account and the cybercriminal can impersonate him to ask his contacts for money.
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“In this way, the hacker scams the victim’s WhatsApp contacts, even before the victim realizes that they have lost control of their account“, they explain in CloudSEK. In addition, the computer security firm details that most numbers that use this method to scam start with ’67’ or ‘405’.
One way to avoid this type of crime is to activate the authentication in two steps of WhatsApp and do not accept calls from unknown numbers from the application.
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How to activate two-step verification?
- Open the app and go to ‘settings’ which is found as the last option when clicking on the three vertical dots in the upper right corner.
- Once there, select ‘Bill’.
- Next, click on ‘Two-Step Verification’.
- Upon entering, you will see a message that explains the dynamics of this function: “For greater security, activate two-step verification, which will require a PIN when you re-register your phone number on WhatsApp.” You just have to click on ‘Activate’.
- After, you must enter a 6-digit PIN that you will remember in the future.
- Finally, there is only enter your email and click on ‘Ok’.
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