Scam attempts, far from being unrelated to social networks, take advantage of the wide scope of these platforms to try to deceive the largest number of people and obtain money with tricks that in the case of WhatsApp can end up blackmailing the victim to get your money.
“Excuse me, who are you? I found your number in my address book” is a formula that scammers use to start a conversation with potential victims and gain their trust, as they point out from the WABetainfo portal, which has recently been the subject of one of these attempts.
Far from trying to solve the enigma of a contact without a name, what they want is to get their interlocutor to add them as a contact on popular social networks such as Facebook or Instagram, and from that moment start the second part of the plan: get money.
The conversation that continues, with trivial questions about the user’s name, their job or how old they are, which may be accompanied by compliments, may not alert the potential victim enough, and cause them to finally add it in their networks personal socials.
Initially, expanding the number of contacts on Facebook does not seem like a big problem, but it is the intention behind that request that should be of concern, since it is giving access to photos, the contact list and more personal information.
WABetainfo explains that fraudsters use the photos, as they have been shared or manipulated, to blackmail the victim, threatening to share them with family and friends if they do not agree to a payment. And since they are looking for money, the blackmail may never end.
Although it is a well-known scam, it does not hurt to remember it, since, as they have pointed out from the specialized WhatsApp portal, it can arrive at a delicate moment, at a mental or even mental level, for the potential victim, which makes you more vulnerable.
If this scam attempt is detected, it is recommended to immediately report it to WhatsApp (it can be done from the profile information), and even raise the security level of the account, limiting access to the profile photo, or even report it to the Police if the situation ends badly.
