The New WhatsApp Scam In South Africa And What To Do If You Are A victim. Several WhatsApp accounts have been stolen within the past week.
Several WhatsApp accounts have been stolen within the past week. Scammers steal the identities of the victims, thereby asking for urgent money transfers from friends. The wrongful act needs the scammer to steal a phone number by porting the number to a new network, and a new SIM card under the control of the scam artist.
If the WhatsApp account does not have two-factor verification, the person who gets texts from the number has WhatsApp control for the cell phone number. Once they can act like the people they stole the numbers from via WhatsApp, the scam artists only need to wait for a message that is sent to the number or to a WhatsApp group that the victim is in. Thus the scammer gets the phone numbers of the people the victim chats with then asks the people to send money through e-wallet.
If your WhatsApp has been hijacked the fastest way to stop the attack and get full control of your WhatsApp account is to get back your cell phone number. You can send an email to WhatsApp if you can’t get your cell phone number. Once you do get your number, log in to WhatsApp and log out web users. If you are asked for a verification code you didn’t set up, you’ll have to wait a week then you can log in again as the person who receives the messages. And lastly, let the people you chat to on WhatsApp know about the situation.
by Alexandra Ramaite
