S'pore Scammers Running Out Of Ideas, Blatantly Ask People For WhatsApp 6-Digit Code

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Scammers Use Compromised WhatsApp Account To Ask Friends For Verification Code

Just last month, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) warned members of the public about a scam that threatens potential victims with arson if they fail to pay up.

New Phone Scam Threatens Victims With Arson, S’poreans Advised To Stay Calm & Not Reply

On Tuesday (9 Jul), the SPF took to Facebook once again, this time informing Singaporean about a resurgence of a ‘WhatsApp takeover scam’.

Here’s the Facebook post in full.

Source

Victims lose access to account after sending verification code

According to the Facebook post, potential victims would receive a WhatsApp message from a ‘friend’, requesting them to forward a 6-digit WhatsApp verification code that they have received.

Here’s an example of what this message may look like:

Source

Unbeknownst to the victim, their friend’s account has already been compromised.

This means that the person they’re communicating with isn’t exactly their friend, but a stranger, or rather a scammer.

After sending the verification code to their ‘friend’, the victim would shortly lose access to his or her WhatsApp account.

In short, this scam preys on the trust between friends.

Do not share personal verification codes

In light of the resurgence, the SPF recommends that the public take the following precautions:

Do not share verification codes with anyone
Do not accede to “unusual requests” on WhatsApp, even from friends
Call your friend to verify said request, but not through social media platforms
Enable 2-step verification feature on WhatsApp

In the event where a WhatsApp account has been taken over the scammer, users can still ‘recover’ it by logging in using your phone number and authenticate the account using a verification pin that they will receive on their phone.