A large-scale fraud campaign is taking over the WhatsApp app and putting its users at risk of stealing personal data and money, warns the online platform “We the users&rdquo ;.
"Hello, can I talk to you for a second?" or a laconic and catchy "Hello". These are some of the opening messages with which scammers attempt to attract the attention and arouse the interest of their potential victims.
Messages are sent by Jessica, Haley, and others. and arrive from various numbers that the app identifies as coming from countries like the Philippines (+62 831-9804-20716), Indonesia (+63 951 650 7962), etc. It is most likely the use of artificial intelligence by third-party-based individuals who aim to make contact with the victim in order to gain access to the data on the victims' devices, their bank accounts and personal information.
Speaking in the target's native language further increases the attackers' chances of success. The subject of the latest such scam is the work of “dark” and receiving undeclared income.
It all starts with an offer of easy income and almost no effort. The regulation is to like a few YouTube videos and for each like you will get some amount in your account. Before that, you need to join a group where daily tasks are distributed and provide your details – profession, gender, age and bank account to transfer the earned funds.
At the first level, you can earn a maximum of 10 BGN from 5 videos per day, but you have to invest 2 BGN to get a link to each one of them. It looks easy because you are not even required to watch the videos, just send a screenshot to your like to prove that you have earned your reward.
On the third day you are invited to level up, you are entitled to 10 videos for double the profit per like, but you have to pay for the level. With each next level, your like under a video gets better paid, but it costs you a certain amount, which progressively grows.
You reach a level with a promise of hundreds of BGN profits per day, but if you give up at this stage, threats follow and the amounts stagnate, and when you calculate the income and expenses in this “business”, you find yourself overspending.< /p>
„When the conversation is with an unknown person whom you cannot identify, even if they introduce themselves with a name or an organization they claim to represent, and they ask you to provide personal data – names, place of residence, workplace, occupation, salary, interests, as well as documents, directly asks you for money or tries to involve you in illegal activities, including working “in the dark“, it is most likely a scam,” explained to BNR Gabriela Rumenova.
She advised people not to get carried away by offers of easy profits and undeclared work, as even if it is a scam, it is sure to harm themselves and the society as a whole.
If you receive such messages, do not respond in any case, do not follow the links sent from there and immediately block the conversation. These people are well-trained psychologists, and once you come into contact with them, there is a high risk that they will subtly lure you in and persuade you to do what they initiated the communication for, advises “We, the users”.