WhatsApp users report something worrying: As the website WABetaInfo.com reports, users of the chat app have recently received more and more messages from fake customer service accounts. The operators of the accounts pose as employees of the meta corporation and try to lure their victims into the trap. They use an official-looking profile picture with a green tick. This green tick usually symbolizes that it is a verified account from WhatsApp support – but it is usually not in the profile picture.
In fact, if you receive a message from an account with a verification tick in its profile picture, your alarm bells should be ringing, as it’s a sure sign of a fake. With actual WhatsApp customer service, you will find the tick behind the phone number, not in the photo. You should immediately report such an account to the Meta Group as suspicious. Aside from the green tick, there are also clues that you can use to quickly and accurately identify attempted fraud.
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You can still see the dizziness there
According to the report, the scammers approach their potential victims with dubious concerns. For example, users should transmit their credit card details or their six-digit WhatsApp PIN in order to avoid closing their accounts. You can book such demands as a scam, because WhatsApp will never ask you for payment information or your PIN data. If you release the latter, the crooks can gain access to your account. What the criminals can do with your credit card data probably needs no further explanation.
According to the report, the scammers not only disguise themselves as customer service, they often pretend to be friends or acquaintances. You should therefore always be suspicious when you receive messages from numbers you do not know. Ideally, you don’t even reply to them, block the respective account and report it to WhatsApp. The company then gains access to the last five messages exchanged with that account, can investigate who owns the account and, if necessary, suspend it.
