You have just received a Whatsapp message from an unknown number, but you recognise the photo (friend, colleague, family).
Their phone number is different because their phone is broken. But they know things that only that person could know. So when they ask for help and money (they will pay you back obviously), you don’t have any doubts and agree to help.
How can fraudsters have information about my family or friends?
There are many ways for fraudsters to get information on the internet:
the profile photo from social media accounts is public information,
social media accounts that are not protected can be accessed freely,
reusing a password on multiple accounts is a risk if it is leaked
Our advice to protect your private information
change the privacy settings in ALL your social media accounts to limit access exclusively to your friends
do not accept friendship requests without verifying the account. An empty account is a sign of fraud
activate 2-factor authentication on your online accounts
do not use the same password everywhere
How to protect myself?
- Always be careful when someone asks for money by text message.
- Call the person using the phone number that you normally use without saying so on WhatsApp. If it is an attempted fraud, you will get the real person on the phone.
- This could also happen on other text messaging applications like Facebook Messenger.
What should I do if I am victim of WhatsApp fraud?
Contact your bank immediately using the phone number on the back of your bank card.