SINGAPORE: The Public Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force issued an advisory earlier this week regarding a new scam variant involving fraudsters taking over people’s WhatsApp accounts.
“The Police would like to alert members of the public to be vigilant and take preventive measures against a new variant of WhatsApp account takeover scams where scammers would send SMSes containing phishing links to deceive victims,” the advisory said.
The modus operandi involves victims receiving SMSes that tell them their WhatsApp accounts have issues because of a prolonged lack of verification. The recipients would be asked to verify their accounts by clicking on a phishing link. This link then takes them to a fake WhatsApp webpage, wherein they are asked to input their mobile numbers and verification code.
This would give the scammers the ability to take over their WhatsApp accounts, and they would proceed to send requests for loans to the contacts of the victims
The individuals whose WhatsApp accounts were taken over would discover that they had been victimised by scammers when they were logged out of their accounts, find that unknown devices had been linked to their accounts, or if their contacts would tell them they received fraudulent loan requests.
Anyone who suspects that their WhatsApp account has been compromised should take the steps to recover it, which may be found here.
“If you suspect someone else is using your WhatsApp account, you should notify family and friends, as this person could impersonate you in chats and groups. To help protect your account, WhatsApp will notify you when someone tries to register an account with your phone number,” WhatsApp says.
The Police have also advised members of the public to take the following steps to prevent falling victim to scammers:
- Add the ScamShield App to block and filter SMSes, and set up security features, such as the Two-Step Verification feature on WhatsApp. More information on additional security features on WhatsApp can be found here.
- Check the authenticity of links and webpage addresses for discrepancies via the ScamShield app. People should also watch out for unusual requests received over WhatsApp, even those sent by people they know. When in doubt, they can always verify the identity of the person who contacted them via a non-WhatsApp call.
- Check your linked devices regularly by going to ‘Settings’ > ‘Linked Devices’ to review all devices linked to your account. To remove a linked device that you do not recognise, select the device > ‘Log Out’.
- Tell family, friends, and the authorities about the scams you encounter.
“If you are in doubt, call the 24/7 ScamShield Helpline at 1799 to check. For more information on scams, members of the public can visit www.scamshield.gov.sg. Fighting scams is a community effort. Together, we can ACT Against Scams to safeguard our community!” the Police added. /TISG
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