Electronic scams are ridiculously common nowadays, and even though some users are really attentive and avoid giving away their personal information to potential hackers, some of them have faced the worst part of technology and mobile apps. That is exactly what happened to a Brazilian female who suffered a hacking variant known as WhatsApp account cloning; using her number, the scammers then tricked her sister into transferring 40,000 Brazilian pesos to them.
According to Javier Gonzalez, prosecutor of the Economic Crimes Division of the town of Seguí, Brazil, it all started when the victim received a 6-digit security code that hackers had previously requested to the platform. Shortly after, the malicious actors called the victim to ask her for this password, arguing that they were calling from WhatsApp.
The victim totally fell into the trap and granted hackers her 6-digit code thinking she was actually chatting with her sister: “The user communicated that key and from there she could not make use of the application. They hacked her WhatsApp and in that way they accessed the contact list,” the prosecutor continued.
A few hours later, the supposed sister texted to the victim to ask her for the money, which she transferred with the sole purpose of helping her sister; Gonzalez added that the hackers left the victim’s WhatsApp account after getting the money.
Due to the existence of this fraud variant, cybersecurity experts recommend enabling the two-factor verification feature included in WhatsApp. It is a very simple mechanism and only requires us to register a six-digit code, which will only be requested by the system in certain occasions, never by third parties.
To learn more about information security risks, malware variants, vulnerabilities and information technologies, feel free to access the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) websites.
He is a cyber security and malware researcher. He studied Computer Science and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2006. He is actively working as an cyber security investigator. He also worked for different security companies. His everyday job includes researching about new cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in enterprise security implementation.