Beware of This New WhatsApp Scam

The Delhi Police Cybercrime department is alerting WhatsApp users to be alert about a new kind of scam which is the hijacking of WhatsApp accounts. The scam involves taking other's WhatsApp account and used to communicate with friends and family members of the target to carry out financial transactions. Delhi Police said in tweets that the scammers aim to lockout users by using WhatsApp's two-factor authentication.

This is all you need to know about this new scam.

1. Scammers pose as WhatsApp technicians and get verification PIN from the victim

Delhi Police explained scammers get WhatsApp verification PIN from the target using a fake account with official WhatsApp logo as a display picture to make the victim believe that it is the official account of WhatsApp tech team.

2. Send a message to the victim for WhatsApp verification

The scammer later sends a message to the victim, asking him/her to share the six-digit verification PIN to verify their identity.

3. The scammer login to the victim's WhatsApp account

"The target is easily tricked when they see the message coming from an account appearing to be the official team account and share the PIN. In reality, the attacker is trying to log in from his/her device into the target's WhatsApp user account to hijack the account," clarified Delhi Police.

4. The moment verification PIN is shared victim's WhatsApp account gets hijacked

"If the target divulges the PIN to the attacker, the account gets hijacked. The attackers can then leverage their access to the hijacked account to further send fraudulent messages to friends and family of the target, asking for money, PIN, OTP, etc.," said Delhi Police. Police further added, never share verification code sent with anyone for any reason whatsoever.

5. Activate two-step verification for WhatsApp and other social media accounts

It is advised to activate 'two-step verification' for social media accounts. This will improve the security of your account, and even if the scammer gets access to verification code, to log into the account, a password will still be required.

6. WhatsApp Representatives or any other social media apps never asks for verification PINs

Never reply to messages asking for PIN or any additional sensitive personal information. Social media or WhatsApp do not send such messages. Re-verify your WhatsApp account as soon as possible if you have shared PIN with anyone.