Yesterday the police reported several cases of WhatsApp fraud throughout Germany. In most cases, the potential victims recognize the scam, but given the sheer number of recipients, there are enough people who fall for the fake messages.
In Velbert, for example, WhatsApp fraudsters cheated a 68-year-old Velbert woman out of a low four-digit sum on Tuesday (November 22, 2022). The suspects first contacted the woman via text message and then switched to the WhatsApp messenger service. The police have launched an investigation.
The woman was contacted by text message from a number she did not recognize. The suspect or suspects posed as their daughter, whose cell phone was broken and who would now make contact using her old device. The 68-year-old believed the information was credible. At the request of the supposed daughter, the conversation switched to the messenger service WhatsApp. The fraudster or fraudsters then demanded that bills be paid.
The 68-year-old complied with the request and transferred a low four-digit amount. When the fraudsters later asked for the woman's credit card details, she became suspicious, ended communication and informed the police, who opened an investigation.
WhatsApp scam: other locations – same method
A 63-year-old woman was hit in Neckargemünd. She also received a message from a number she did not recognize on Tuesday afternoon around 4 p.m. The author pretended to be her son. The alleged son got the 63-year-old to order a transfer of around 2,100 euros via WhatsApp. After she contacted her actual son, he alerted him to the fraud and the 63-year-old immediately filed a report.
In Schramberg near Konstanz, a woman also fell victim to a WhatsApp scam and fraudsters collected over 2,000 euros. Here, too, the woman was led to believe in the messenger service that the woman's daughter had contacted her. She feigned a problem with online banking. The 56-year-old paid with a clear conscience and was then confronted with further such requests. She eventually became suspicious and contacted her daughter. Then the dizziness came to light.
It is still unclear whether a woman from Neckargmünd will be lucky in the end. The 63-year-old received a message from a number she did not recognize on Tuesday afternoon around 4 p.m. The author pretended to be her son. The alleged son got the 63-year-old to order a transfer of around 2,100 euros via WhatsApp. After she contacted her actual son, he alerted him to the fraud and the 63-year-old immediately filed a report. The affected banking company was contacted immediately. It is still unclear whether this was able to prevent a money transfer.
A lakeside woman fared better. A 58-year-old woman from Seesen contacted us after receiving a fraudulent message on November 22nd. to the police to file a criminal complaint based on attempted fraud. She also received it from a number she did not recognize. As with almost all WhatsApp fraud attempts, the content of the message was the same: She received a message saying that this was her daughter's new number because she had a new cell phone. During the course of the conversation, the unknown person then asked the 58-year-old from Seesen to transfer an amount of money via real-time transfer. There was no transfer because the Seesenerin recognized the fraud as such.
WhatsApp fraud: Method clearly visible!
It should now be very clear which method is used and who is preferred. The amounts that are ripped off are always at a level that is affordable on the one hand, but still represents a severe loss in an emergency. We can only urgently warn again:
- If you are informed of a family member/friend's new mobile phone number via a message/SMS, verify this written statement using alternative means. Call the phone numbers you already know and question the statement in the SMS message. Do not call the new number, as the perpetrators often do not answer or may have additional tricks to convince you of the authenticity of the statement.
- Don’t let alleged problems (smartphone broken, “rejecting” the call, urgent emergency situation, other excuses…) stop you from checking.
As a rule, the speeches in the news are impersonal (“Hello mom, hello dad”) and without naming the alleged child. Nevertheless, it can happen that the perpetrators, similar to the grandchild trick, elicit a name from the person being written to or that the perpetrators have data sources from which a name can be identified. - Be careful if you have received an unsolicited 6-digit verification code and a contact (possibly known to you) asks you to pass on this code. This measure runs the risk of handing over your account to an unknown perpetrator. You should therefore also ensure that your account is properly protected (see the following tips from WhatsApp on account security).
- Do not transfer money to anyone you have not verified yourself using alternative means. (An unknown SMS or WhatsApp message should not be considered verification in this case).
- If necessary, question things from the news writer that only real friends/family members would know or ask trick questions (e.g. fake first names).
- Block the phone numbers that are recognized as incorrect in your phone/messenger account.
- Avoid personal information online as much as possible. The less data (e.g. telephone numbers, email addresses, etc.) you publish yourself, the less likely perpetrators will be able to find it. However, this does not protect against customer databases in which your data can also be found being hacked. Tips for this can be found here .
- Always use different and secure passwords .
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Notes:
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