Cybercriminals Steal WhatsApp Accounts in Spain’s Malaga

CYBERCRIMINALS steal WhatsApp accounts and demand ‘ransom’ money in Spain’s Malaga
The past few months have seen no shortage in cybercriminals taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to hack accounts and swindle money from the vulnerable, and now police in Malaga have warned of a new scam where fraudsters are taking over the accounts of unsuspecting WhatsApp users. The scam is really quite simple – the hacker assumes the identity of one of the victim’s contacts and sends them a verification code; once the owner of the WhatsApp account clicks on the link, their account, along with all the information associated with it, is taken over by the scammer.
The Cybercrime Group of the Provincial Police Station has reported that some users have actually been contacted by the fraudsters demanding ransom money for the return of their accounts.
“There are those who use WhatsApp at a business level, have contacts with many clients and are interested in paying a ransom for the hijacking of the account,” a member of Malaga’s Provincial Police told Malagahoy.
The Cybercrime Group have advised users to add extra security to prevent such crimes, such as using the two-step verification process on Whatsapp and adding a multi-digit personal password.
“In December several people fell for it [the WhatsApp scam]. All online scams use social engineering, that is, they seek deception so that the user is the one who voluntarily provides their data, whether they are banking or a password,” the Cybercrime Group said.
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