New WhatsApp Scam Doing Rounds; How To Protect Yourself From Scammers

WhatsApp is once again facing the heat from users, this time for a major scam that has broken out on the platform. Scams on WhatsApp aren't new, and we as users have gotten used to it by now. From the looks of it, the new WhatsApp scam is seemingly familiar to some of the older scams that rocked the messaging platform.

New WhatsApp Scam Explained

The new WhatsApp scam could be misleading. Here, users get a text message with an OTP or a one-time password. Next, they get a WhatsApp message from a friend in their contact list, asking users to share the OTP code with them.

If you send the OTP code, believing it's your friend asking, you're in for a major scam. With the OTP code in hand, scammers can hack into your WhatsApp account. What's worse, this leaves you logged out of your account, giving the hackers unlimited access to your WhatsApp account, contacts, and other important details.

WhatsApp Scam: Seems Familiar?

If you find the new WhatsApp scam familiar, you're not alone. Looking back, a similar scam has enveloped WhatsApp users back in November. Dubbed as the WhatsApp OTP scam, hackers were able to get access to your account and block you out of it. Since the message comes from someone you're familiar with, one might actually genuinely believe the message.

WhatsApp Scam: How To Protect Yourself?

The new WhatsApp scam, much like the previous one, can be quite tricky. However, scammers are following a familiar pattern, which helps us to protect our accounts from these cyber attacks. Here are some of the steps to protect your WhatsApp account from scammers:

Step 1: Never share any OTP code. Be it a bank-related code or an account verification code, never share it with anyone. Considering how you wouldn't have requested a WhatsApp code in the first place, you needn't share the OTP with anyone.

Step 2: Call your friend or your contact. Since the scam involves people in your contact, it could be quite convincing. You can always call your friend from whom you got the message to confirm. If it's a scam, they would naturally say they didn't send any code to you. This also brings us to the question - why would anyone send a verification code to your number in the first place!

When Will WhatsApp Scams End?

There seems to be a never-ending trail of scams, data thefts, and privacy invasions. Besides, our stint with such WhatsApp scams is far from over, at least not in the foreseeable future. The list of scams on WhatsApp has been on the rise. Another recent incident involved a free Reliance Jio Rs. 555 plan on WhatsApp, which was another way for scammers to mint money.

WhatsApp also faced severe backlash for its updated privacy policy. Incidentally, it's come out in the open that Mark Zuckerberg, who also owns WhatsApp, has been using Signal instead of his own messaging app. This once again questions the privacy, security, and overall integrity of the app.