What to do if you receive a WhatsApp message from a 'Hacked' account?
What to do if you receive a WhatsApp message from a 'Hacked' account?
Blog Article
Unfortunately, today it is very easy to hack an account on a social network like WhatsApp . The worst thing is that many times the thieves do not intend to take your personal data or access financial information, but they use you to deceive other people : they hijack your account and then start sharing messages that include links to misleading pages or that download a virus onto their computers.
What should you do when you receive a WhatsApp message from an account you think has been hacked?
Do not open any attachments
By now, many of you know that El Salvador WhatsApp Number List the golden rule on the Internet is to never open any link if you are not 100% sure of its origin . However, nowadays there seems to be a lot of confusion about what type of files can be opened.
Just to clarify for many: opening the message (not the attachment, just the conversation) itself does not download the virus . It is also not necessary to delete it immediately (in fact, the recommendation is to save it). The reason why these types of scams often use external links is because only through these types of files is it possible to hack an account.
Check with the account owner
The next thing you should do is check with the person who owns the account that has been hacked. In some cases, hackers do not have access to the WhatsApp profile itself, but have infected the device so that it automatically sends a message through a messaging app. This means that the same user can log into their WhatsApp account, delete the sent messages and inform people not to open this link.
In case the person has lost access to the account, then the first thing they should do is check if they have any external method to verify their identity and recover the profile.
What if it is an unknown number?
Another method that has become very popular is to use hijacked numbers to send generic spam messages to different numbers WhatsApp Number Database in databases. In this case , the method changes and they often use 'job offers' or documents that were apparently 'requested' from banking entities as bait.
In case you think the message is being sent from a fraudulent account, you can report the profile to WhatsApp: within the message select the options button (the three dots in the right corner), the 'More' option and then the 'Report' option. Doing this will send a screenshot of the latest messages to the company, which is why we suggest you do not delete these messages.
Also be wary of messages that ‘prevent’ hacked accounts
One last warning: a scam model has started to circulate these days, where hacked accounts send messages like “My profile has been hacked. Please write to this email and this is my new number from now on.” Obviously, these messages also contain fake links that can download viruses or take people to another profile where they will be socially engineered (the way of obtaining personal information through questions). Again, we refer to point 2: always check with the person whose account has been hacked on another social network.