Whatsapp is an application that allows users to send text messages, make voice and audio calls, share locations, images, and documents. The use of technology also comes with great responsibilities such as securing your privacy, avoiding scammer, and many more which are greatly common in globally used platforms such as Whatsapp. The app owned by Facebook has recently been targeted by scammers and hackers to get user’s one-time verification code and gain access to their contacts.
The mission of these cybercriminals is to gain access to user’s accounts illegally by using their verification code. They target Whatsapp because they can get a lot of information from people’s conversations. Unfortunately, these scammers often come in disguise acting as a member of the Whatsapp technical team, a family member, or friends while asking users to send their Whatsapp verification code in a friendly manner. Hence, their target gets to receive messages in many cases comes from a friend or family’s Whatsapp number instead of the imposter number. This makes many users fall victim and gladly give out their one-time Whatsapp verification code. Also, they told them it’s an emergency or they want to use it to activate their account.
Read on as Mayur Rele a cybersecurity expert who has great experience in global technology and cloud automation takes us through how cybercriminals take over your contacts and access your messages.
The WABetaInfo received an inquiry messenger from a user about a suspicious message from another user who posed as Whatsapp’s technical team. In the message, the user was asked to send a verification code which is often received while activating your Whatsapp account on a new device. A one-time password is often asked before using Whatsapp every time a user register with a new device. This verification process is very important and initiated by Whatsapp to curb any form of cybercriminals and also block hackers from accessing user’s accounts.
WABetaInfo has announced that Whatsapp does not send messages to their user through their officially Whastapp account and if they want to send a message it will be through their verified account. Their official verified account can be recognized by looking for a green tick beside the name of the account. They also claim they never ask users for personal information such as their verification code for any reason. The good news is the Whatsapp technical team has assured users they can retrieve their account after falling into the trap of scammers and losing their account. Although Whatsapp is working on providing support for multiple devices in the future, however, it can only be used on a single device now.
The hackers often ask for the one-time verification code sent to your number and once you send it to them you will automatically be blocked from using your account and the hackers take total control of your account. This allows the scammers to misuse all the information on your Whatsapp. They often use the account to get your family or friend’s Whatsapp verification code or collect important information that is supposed to be private.
Therefore, anytime you receive such suspicious messages, it is important to immediately reach out to the owner through voice or video call to confirm if the message is coming from them. Also, you should never share your six-digit Whatsapp verification code with anyone. If the message is coming from an unknown number, it is better ignored to and not get yourself entangled in any illegal activity. You are also advised to turn on your Two-factor authentication process on your Whatsapp, this protects your Whatsapp by a PIN from any form of cybercriminal activities that a scammer might want to carry out on your Whatsapp account.
