A dubious email, interspersed with Cyrillic letters, claims that the WhatsApp account has “expired” and that a small amount needs to be transferred to make it work again.

This is what this email looks like:

Screenshot mimikama.org
Screenshot mimikama.org

“Wellcome XXXXX
attention! Your WhatsApp Messenger account has expired:
If you don't re-register, the account will expire within 24 hours. . .
Please log in as soon as possible to avoid losing all data (images, videos and history…)
You should pay this bill in the next 24 hours "

This is followed by a request for €0.99 and a link that you should click on to pay this amount.

Cyrillic letters?

If you look closely at the screenshot of the email, you will notice that some of the letters are Cyrillic, previously also called Neo-Russian. These letters are partly similar to our Latin letters. These letters were probably sprinkled into the email to make it harder for spam filters to detect.

Watch out, trap!

WhatsApp suddenly costs what? We have reported several times that this not the case. Nevertheless, many users believe that, and 99 cents isn't that much, is it? That's why unfortunately many users tap on “Pay here” and then end up here:

Screenshot mimikama.org
Screenshot mimikama.org

On a site that is not part of WhatsApp , credit card details are requested. The unsuspecting user, who doesn't pay attention to which page he is on, enters his data there and ends up behind...

Screenshot mimikama.org
Screenshot mimikama.org

...on the official WhatsApp website.

It now looks to the user as if the transaction worked, but in fact he transferred his money to fraudsters and gave his credit card details!

Conclusion

No, WhatsApp remains free ! If you have any doubts about it, just open your WhatsApp and check the official WhatsApp page to see if there are any announcements about it. But please don't click on any links in dubious emails that obviously come from scammers !


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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 )