There seem to be a rising level of manipulation going on WhatsApp in duping victims to transfer funds only to realise that they have in fact lost control of the application.
CyberSecurity Malaysia has raised this concern and has issued a warning where scammers are exploiting the platform to impersonate these activities and deceiving victims into transferring money.
In a Facebook post, it said fraudulent activities were using the app, with perpetrators posing as someone known to the victim before sending a link and asking the victim to click on it.
The victim will subsequently lose access to their WhatsApp account once they click the link.
“The scammer will then take over the hacked WhatsApp account and use the victim’s identity to commit fraud. They will impersonate the victim by sending messages to the victim’s contacts via the WhatsApp account,” said CyberSecurity.
It added that scammers would claim the victim is in an emergency and needs financial aid or a loan to help them out of the crisis and promise to make repayment.
In this situation, the victim’s contacts will be misled and believe their friend sent the message and end up losing money.
“We advise people not to click on any link received via WhatsApp. Do not make any money transfer until you have confirmed and verified with your contacts,” CyberSecurity said.
The public can get more information on the matter at https://www.mycert.org.my/portal/advisory?id=MA-994.122023.
