Whatsapp Phishing is a new way to trick or scam users by providing mesmerizing offers to buy quality products at a cheap price and then dupe them for transactions done. This Phishing can be done via Messages such as links to an insecure website or encourage you to download some applications which are not created from legit sources. If you’ve clicked some sort of these links or have downloaded mobile applications from such malicious sites then follow these steps to make your WhatsApp account safe.
Before beginning with the Article let’s understand What is Phishing and how it’s used to trick users to become a victim of a Scam.
Phishing is a Cybercrime activity through which a single or multiple users are targeted via Email, Mobile text messages, website links where a fake institution will pretend to be the legitimate owner of the product and will offer you to buy products or provide financial details such as banking password, ID and OTP etc.
This information is then used to access important accounts and then can lead to financial theft and loss.
Nowadays even Android apps are made to access special permissions of the mobile which will enable the culprit to gain access to all activity a user performs.
What is Whatsapp Phishing, How it’s done?
Whatsapp Phishing is currently an easy and trending scam perform by hackers, Here a user may send you a malicious link that will offer you products in a cheap price. Whereas in return you need to provide some information such as OTP or make a transaction on that link.
Recently a Whatsapp message is circulated over the group which says “Today is WhatsApp’s 12 Anniversary and has decided to provide free Amazon coupons worth Thousand Rupees. All you need to do is visit the website, Provide your mobile number and email Address, And send the OTP which they have provided for generating a Coupon code.
The OTP will be none other than the What’s app verification code which is needed to activate the account.
Once the OTP is shared with the culprit, he/she can access all the information of your What’s app such as new messages, numbers, groups etc.
Another way of Whatsapp Scam is to download mobile applications from an unwanted source to access free content. This trick is most common as well as highly dangerous, As it will lure to access free content of OTT services and in return will ask you to download an application form so and so link.
The link will have a secure HTTPS connection but the apk you’re downloading will have dangerous scripts which can install a worm on your Smartphone and can gain full access to your Smartphone.
Text messages, emails, All types of passwords, Whole security of the mobile will be compromised.
How to protect your Whatsapp Account from Phishing messages?
- Verify the source of the Message
IF you receive the message from your contacts there are fewer chances of Phishing as no one in your contact would be willing to harm you. If you receive a message from an international number do not open the message and directly report spam to WhatsApp and block the number in your account.
- Check Website Security as well as Domain name.
When receiving such offers messages from big companies name such as Amazon and Flipkart. Make sure you check the domain name and proper spelling of the company. If the domain is fake it will be like Amazonh.com or Flipkaart.in.
The above two domains are totally fake, but there are chances that the content on this website such as GUI, Images will be the same as AMAZON and Flipkart Website.
- Never fall for luring Offer provided on text messages or links.
This is the easiest and the trickiest way for generating Whatsapp Phishing attacks on the victim’s account. All a user needs to download or visit a website for free offers. Remember a quality content or product won’t ever be free. So stop believing these messages and delete them straight away.
- Never share any of the OTP unless you trust the source.
OTP plays a major role in verifying your identity, OTP is generated when a user provides his genuine id and password. This OTP is responsible for validating your transaction, So think wisely before providing OTP to any of the websites.
- Enable two-step verification on your WhatsApp Account.
Two-step verification will add an extra protective layer to your WhatsApp account. You need to head towards Whatsapp – Settings – Two-step verification – Enable – Add a new 6 digit pin – And for backup add an email address so that if you forget the two-step pin you can reset it.
Two-step verification will ask you every time you install WhatsApp on a device.
- What to do if I’ve provided OTP and have also installed an application from an unknown source.
First clear your browser data, History, Cache and all settings.
Second All you need to do is head towards settings – Apps – WhatsApp and click on clear cache and data and reinstall WhatsApp, Then head towards the application that you’ve installed and uninstall it fully. Also if you’ve downloaded any sort of file from that app, delete it from the download folder.
- Last and Most important – Stop sharing these types of Messages.
No wonder you might be familiar with all these types of Phishing attacks, But there are many of them who’s duped for all these types of activities. So make sure whenever you receive such messages do not forward them.
That was all on How to stay safe from Whatsapp Phishing messages, If you’ve ever encountered any of them do not respond. If you liked this article do share it and subscribe to BlogsBarrel by Allowing notifications.
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