Security and privacy when using WhatsApp has always been a sensitive issue and a source of concern for its users. Since last year, the issue has become even more critical after five million accounts have been cloned.
Don't fall for the old cloning scam
A well-known example of a scam is a message that looks like others from someone on your list. Suddenly, the person asks if you can do them a favor: due to an unforeseen event, they were unable to go to the bank and need to pay a bill. They ask if they could lend you a certain amount of money, to be returned the next day.
It seems obvious, but this scam has already claimed many victims, and some have even lost money due to this “joke”. Dentist Renata C. Lemke found herself facing this inconvenience: “My mother-in-law transferred R$2 and we had to run to her house because she was going to make another transfer of R$3. We tried to reverse the payment with the bank, reporting the incident, but they told us that nothing could be done.”
She only discovered the problem because a cousin of her husband, with whom she rarely speaks, found the contact strange and warned her about the scam. “We tried to file a police report at a police station, but they said it had to be done online and it was no use. I sent a message to WhatsApp and they asked me for 24 hours to resolve the problem and block my account”, recalls Renata.
Journalist Danielle Sanches was luckier, as none of her contacts fell for the scammers. She was 40 weeks pregnant and found herself in the same situation and was a little quicker: she contacted the company and also the cell phone operator, requesting that the SIM card be blocked. “My husband had to get another SIM card and we were told to do the two-step verification process,” she says.
What does WhatsApp say?
When contacted, WhatsApp explained, through a statement, that when receiving messages from someone you know asking for money, the first recommendation is to try to contact them by phone to confirm the authenticity of the request.
If a scam is detected, the person who received the message can report the incident in the application menu. “It is also important to send an email to [email protected] with as much information as possible (telephone number in international format and description of the incident, for example) to alert you to an account that is misusing your name and/or photo,” explains the company.
WhatsApp ensures that, even in the event of cloning, the security of messages remains, since end-to-end encryption prevents scammers from accessing user conversations.
The company also reminds that when activating the app on a smartphone, a security code is sent to the cell phone number that should not be shared with other people. And, believe it or not, it is at this stage that many scams occur.
Attention to the details
Renata had put her clinic up for sale on a website and that was when her problems began. “They called me and identified themselves as being from this website. They said that I had received a purchase proposal and, in order to view it, I would have to give them a code that I would receive via SMS while I was still on the phone. Then they would send me a link so that I could view the proposal. I gave them the code and they immediately cloned it. Within seconds, they had contacted my entire contact list,” she says.
It wasn't much different for Danielle. She had made a purchase at a retail chain and, since the order was late, she tried every way to contact the company, without success. So she left a complaint on the store's Instagram.
“The person went to the trouble of creating an account with a very similar name and the same photo as the store. They contacted me saying they were from Customer Service,” she says. In the final stretch of her pregnancy, in the middle of working from home, tired, she says she didn’t pay attention to the details and answered everything they asked: her cell phone number and the order number, for example.
“They then sent me a message saying that I would receive a verification code and that I just had to click and click OK. It turned out to be the WhatsApp installation security code. Then, with a cool head, I looked on the store's website and saw that many other customers had gone through the cloning process like me.”
How to recover your account
WhatsApp explains security measures step by step, what the user should do, if your account is cloned:
- Reinstall the app: this will prompt you to enter a six-digit verification code, which will be sent via SMS. “This way, anyone using the account will be automatically logged out.”
- Notify contacts: Try calling people and letting them know about the cloning.
- Notify WhatsApp: the support team can be contacted via email [email protected]. “The message can be sent in Portuguese, with the subject line 'Cloned/stolen account' and must contain the number in international format (+55 DDD …). Describe the incident in as much detail as possible in the body of the email.”
- Enable two-step verification: this involves registering a security email address and a six-digit PIN.
New measures
This week, WhatsApp announced the arrival of an extra layer of protection to the Web version with the adoption of unlocking by Biometry facial or digital recognition, when enabled on the cell phone, before reading the QR Code on the screen.
When contacted, WhatsApp said in a statement that the feature “reduces the chance of someone you know linking devices to your account” and the update is part of the security measures that display a warning whenever a login on the Web or Desktop is performed and the ability to unlink the device, reducing the chances of cloning.
The new feature will be available to users with compatible smartphones in the coming weeks, when a redesigned WhatsApp Web screen should also arrive on cell phones.
Image: PeopleImages (iStock)