A massive fraud campaign is taking over the WhatsApp app and threatening its users with theft of personal data and money, the online platform “We the Consumers” warns.
“Hi, can I talk to you for a second?” or a terse and „playful“ „Hello“. These are some of the starter messages that scammers use in an attempt to attract attention and arouse the interest of their potential victims,“ says „We the Consumers“, adding:
“The messages are sent by Jessica, Haley and others and arrive from various numbers that the app identifies as coming from countries such as the Philippines /+62 831-9804-20716/, Indonesia /+63 951 650 7962/, etc. It is most likely the use of artificial intelligence by third-party actors based in third countries to contact the victim in order to gain access to the victims’ device data, bank accounts and personal data. Speaking in the target’s native language further adds to the bad actors’ chances of success.”
The subject of the latest such scam is working in the ‘dark’ and receiving undeclared income.
It all starts with an offer of easy income and almost no effort. The regulation is to like several YouTube videos, and for each like you will get a certain amount in your account. Before that, you have to join a group where daily tasks are allocated and provide your details – profession, gender, age and a bank account to which the earnings are to be transferred. At the first level, you can earn a maximum of £10 from 5 videos per day, but you must invest £2 to get a link to each one. It seems easy because you are not even required to watch the videos, just send a screenshot of your like to prove that you have earned your reward.
On the third day, you are invited to level up, and you are entitled to 10 videos for double the reward per like, but you have to pay your level. With each successive level, your video likes get better and better paid, but it costs you a certain amount that progressively grows. You get to a level with the promise of hundreds of leva in profits per day, but if you quit at that point, threats follow and the amounts stop, and when you do a profit and loss calculation in this „business“ you find yourself in overdraft.
“When the conversation is with a stranger who you cannot identify, even if they introduce themselves by name or the organisation they claim to represent, and asks you to provide personal details – 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 Gabriela Rumenova, who is the founder of the online platform “We, The consumers”.
She recommended that people should not get carried away by offers of easy profits and undeclared work, as even if it is not a scam, it certainly harms themselves and society as a whole.
When receiving such messages, under no circumstances reply, do not follow links sent from there and block the conversation immediately. These people are well-trained psychologists and once you come into contact with them, there is a great risk that they will subtly drag you in and persuade you to do what they have initiated the communication for, “We the Consumers” also advises.
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