We are once again receiving inquiries about a chain letter that has been causing mischief for some time.

It's about warning of a virus that is supposed to be transferred to the smartphone through a video on WhatsApp. Martinelli - that's the name of this virus - is supposed to hack the phone and the damage is irreparable. There is also the information that you should not announce a WhatsApp Gold update.

Tomorrow there will be a video on WhatsApp called martinelli.
Please do not open. It hacks your phone and can no longer be repaired. Also don't click on WhatsApp Gold updates. Just hit the news and is considered very serious. Please forward.

What is this warning about?

Nothing at all.

Because it is a chain letter. More specifically, two different claims that mutated into another claim.

The fact check

As colleague Beate reported in April, it was first shared millions of times in Spain, Italy and Great Britain and then translated into German and circulated here.

So it's not new, because the Spanish police gave the all-clear in July 2017: a

And what is WhatsApp Gold all about?

read the whole story about the WhatsApp Gold case .

WhatsApp Gold was a fake version of the messenger WhatsApp . This alleged premium version should include numerous new features that WhatsApp itself does not offer. These include new functions such as video chats, self-deleting messages and much more.

This was of course nonsense and led to a user trap. This justified warning about the 2015 gold has now developed its own momentum and has mutated into a long-running chain letter.

Result:

There is neither a virus nor a video and the updates to WhatsApp Gold are also far-fetched.

The best thing to do is to break the chain by not sharing the message but deleting it and informing the sender that it is a chain letter and that this virus does not exist.

Nevertheless, you should always remain vigilant about what you receive via WhatsApp. Even if a friend or family member sent the message, you shouldn't just click or forward everything at random.

There are enough phishing attempts , data theft and Trojans that are sent in this way - but the “Martinelli virus” is not one of them.


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