Fraud via WhatsApp!
The police report: Because his alleged girlfriend asked for 980 euros via WhatsApp, a 26-year-old man transferred this amount to the account given to him. A short time later, the 26-year-old received a call from a friend because his supposed girlfriend had also asked him for a transfer of 980 euros.
Investigations revealed that the real friend's cell phone was hacked using a code, which is why the stranger demanded money and was able to have it transferred to an unknown account.
The police are warning about one of these scams on WhatsApp.
There an attempt is made to take over WhatsApp accounts using a “verification code”. The message does not always come from an unknown number, but from your own contact list. The message suggests that you accidentally send a six-part code, which you should please send back. This fake code then steals the entire WhatsApp account.
A very important note: Never share this code!
-Mimikama Information-
What is behind the code?
The code you receive in the SMS is actually used to restore your WhatsApp account or transfer your account to another smartphone or mobile number. In this scam, the code is not requested by you, but by the criminals behind the WhatsApp message. They simply enter the number they would like to take over. Forward the code to the criminals, verify the transfer of your WhatsApp account to their number.
Did you forward the code?
If you forwarded the verification code to the criminals, you are probably already locked out of your WhatsApp account. Warn your contacts as quickly as possible about strange messages about your WhatsApp profile, for example by sending an SMS.
You can then try to get your profile back. Stolen Accounts section, WhatsApp provides all the necessary information on its own website.
How can you protect yourself?
To effectively protect yourself from this and similar scams, you must never share such verification codes with other people. The same applies here as with SMS tans from your online banking: the codes are intended exclusively for you. If you are not sure whether a message really came from one of your contacts, you can ask the person by calling them, for example, whether the message was sent intentionally.
Another security measure is to set two-step verification . The verification code is not enough to transfer the WhatsApp account, but a PIN code of your choice is also required. Of course, you are not allowed to share this with anyone.
Sources:
Landau Police Department
Mimikama: Be careful when a WhatsApp contact asks for a verification code!
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )