WhatsApp is the glue that holds friendships together, for everything from roasting or organising nights out, WhatsApp is there.
The more experienced among you will even remember when users had to pay a 99p charge to use the service.
And this is actually the basis of the latest in a spate of WhatsApp based scams.
Here is why we think this clever WhatsApp email will catch people out: https://t.co/5O1kf7bY1N ? #FraudFriday pic.twitter.com/s94Sxjtv0i
— Action Fraud (@actionfrauduk) July 14, 2017
According to Action Fraud, people are receiving an email from a fake WhatsApp administrator which claims that the user’s subscription is running out, before requesting their banking info.
Obviously, this is a scam – Facebook made the chat service free in 2016.
Fraudsters are realising that this might actually be a really effective way of scamming people out of their hard earned money.
PA ImagesOn their website, Action Fraud said:
Whilst late adopters of the service might look at the email below and simply brush it off, long term users will remember paying and could quite easily think the app has gone back to its subscription model and get caught out.
Earlier this month, Action Fraud warned against a similar style of scam which was circulating through text.
This fake WhatsApp text message claims the service is about to start charging people! https://t.co/r1o4I4wwch pic.twitter.com/AYUkR1zHTC
— Action Fraud (@actionfrauduk) May 31, 2017
Last year, there was also a scam circulating which was urging people to download the ‘gold’ app, a premium version of the messenger service which doesn’t exist.
In the event that you receive this message, Action Fraud ask that you delete the email and report it to them.
If you have clicked on any link then you should run anti-malware software on your device, just to double check that there are no pesky viruses running.
