WhatsApp users in Gedling borough are being warned about a shocking new scam which has seen people locked out of their accounts.
Users are being tricked into handing over a six-digit “verification code” which hackers have then used to steal their account and attack their contacts in the same way.
The scam starts when a hacker gets access to another WhatsApp account which will have you listed as a contact.
They will then pose as your friend and send you seemingly normal messages.
However, around the same time you will receive a text message or email from WhatsApp with a six-digit code.
This is because the attacker has requested the code from WhatsApp while pretending to be you.
The person posing as your friend will then claim they have sent the code to the wrong account and ask you to help by sending it to them.
Victims will reportedly receive a message, seemingly from their friend, which says something similar to: “Hello, sorry, I sent you a 6-digit code by mistake, can you pass it to me please? It’s urgent?”
This six-digit code is only ever generated when you are trying to log in or make changes to an account.
If you do send the code, the attack will be successful and the hacker will gain access to your account.
Peter Gibbs from Carlton alerted us to the scam.
“I nearly fell for this,” he said.
“I believed I was genuinely chatting to an old friend of mine that I used to work with. It’s clever.”
To protect your account, never give your six-digit code out to anyone else, under any circumstances.
You can also set up two-factor authentication which will require a pin number to log into your WhatsApp account.
