[ad_1]
Hackers aim to make money by tricking people into revealing their personal or financial information. Scams aren’t always obvious but there are some signs that can help users spot them and do not fall for social engineering ways used by scammers.
- The first message can be just “Hi” or “Hi [your name or a different name]”. When you reply, the person on the other side strikes a conversation with you and gets you to trust them before asking you to share personal information, or send money.
- The scammer may also pretend they are someone you know who lost their phone, or is travelling. If you’re not sure if it’s true, ask them a question only someone you know would have the answer to. You could also do a voice or video call with them to confirm their identity.
- The message is often about the lottery, gambling, a job, an investment, or a loan. Remember if it seems too good to be true, it probably is a scam. Here are some examples of fraudulent messages you may receive on WhatsApp.
Job: “Want to earn money working from home on your mobile? Hurry and deposit xyx amount today to earn 10x return”
Investment: “Double your money quickly by investing in stocks and crypto through this app”
Loan: “I give loans for just 3% per year, you can repay from 3 to 25 years.repayments depends on you, no real application required”
How to protect from scams:
Pause and thinkLook out for suspicious behaviour and ask questions like:
Are they using an unknown number?
Are they rushing you?
Are they being threatening or asking you to trust them?
Are they asking you to transfer money or share a password, pin, or personal information?
Hang up a call or don’t reply to messages. Do not do what the person is asking of you, like transferring money.
Block the user to stop them from contacting you, and let WhatsApp know by reporting them.
- Update your privacy and security settings
Adjust your privacy settings to control who sees your information and enable two-step verification to better secure your account.
[ad_2]
Source link