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WhatsApp Safety: Don't Get Your Account Hacked
WhatsApp: How scammers hack your WhatsApp account? How to protect yourself?
Newsletter Topics: How scammers hack your WhatsApp account? How to protect yourself?
🗞️ In the News: Last week, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reported that hackers attempted to target the WhatsApp accounts of political officials, including some linked to the Trump and Biden administrations.
Meta attributed the activity to APT42, an Iranian hacking group known for its persistent phishing campaigns targeting political and diplomatic officials. Meta also noted that there is no evidence the targeted WhatsApp accounts were compromised, but they are sharing their findings publicly as a precautionary measure.
👀 Today’s Focus: WhatsApp and how scammers take over your account?
With over 2.5 billion monthly active users worldwide, WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps globally. It has become an essential tool for staying connected, making it effortless to communicate with friends and family around the world.
With so many people using WhatsApp, it's a prime target for hackers and scammers. To keep yourself safe, it helps to know how these attacks usually happen.
Account Hack: The hacker installs WhatsApp on their phone, enters your number, and requests a verification code. This code is sent to your phone, and the hacker will try to trick you into sharing it with them. If the hacker successfully obtains your verification code, they have essentially stolen your WhatsApp account and number, giving them full access to your chats, files, contacts, and more.
Call Forwarding: The hackers send you a message, email, or phone call that tricks you into dialing a number with a special code. If you fall for it and make the call, your incoming calls will be forwarded to the hacker’s phone. Once they have your calls, they can set up WhatsApp with your number and request a verification code via call.
Spyware Attack: The hackers send you a message or email with a malicious link or attachment that triggers a spyware application to install. Once it’s on your phone, the spyware can track your WhatsApp messages and send them to the hacker. This means they can access your chats, audio messages, statuses, photos, videos, and more.
After a hacker takes control of your WhatsApp account, they usually target your most frequent contacts with two main goals:
Impersonate You to Ask for Money: They’ll pretend to be you and try to convince your friends and family to send them money.
Access Your Contact List: They will use your account to hack into your contacts WhatsApp, spreading their scam further.
😎 Grandkid Tip of the Day: How to protect yourself?
Hackers can only succeed in taking over your WhatsApp account if you interact with them, such as clicking on a suspicious link, downloading something questionable, or responding to their messages.
To protect yourself: It’s best to avoid opening and delete any suspicious messages right away.
🚨 Open WhatsApp on your mobile device and navigate to: Settings > Account > Two-Step Verification, and tap Enable.
In our next newsletter: What to do if your WhatsApp account gets hacked?
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