If you are a user of the popular chat app WhatsApp, you should be aware of the latest hoax that states that the chat service will soon start charging a fee.

Here is an example of the current hoax:

Tomorrow at 6 pm they are ending WhatsApp and you have to pay to open it, this is by law. 

This message is to inform all of our users, our servers have recently been very congested, so we are asking you to help us solve this problem. We require our active users to forward this message to each of the people in their contact list to confirm our active users using WhatsApp. 

If you do not send this message to all your contacts WhatsApp will start to charge you. 

The message is allegedly sent from Whatsapp’s chief executive officer – Jim Balsamic.

1. The real CEO of WhatsApp is Jan Koum.
2. WhatsApp publically declared that they’ll never charge users for the service. [ https://blog.whatsapp.com/615/Making-WhatsApp-free-and-more-useful ]

This isn’t the first time this sort of hoax has plagued the web – a similar message was sent around in 2013.

In some cases, it was reported that victims of this hoax were “tricked” into opening a legitimate-looking Word, Excel or PDF document attached to a WhatsApp message. The PDF attachment then downloaded malware to devices to steal personal information.

Another student reported that one message they received tried to persuade them to download a R200 Edgars voucher. In reality, the link simply installed cookies and a browser extension on their phone that flooded the phone with adverts.

Always be wary of messages with the following characteristics:

1. The person sending the message claims to be associated with WhatsApp.
2. The message contains instructions telling you to forward the message. (Use a bit of common sense here. According to this hoax message, WhatsApp servers are “very congested” and Jim Balsamic want you to add to the congestion by forwarding the message to all your WhatsApp contacts?)
3. The message says you will suffer some sort of punishment, like account suspension, if you don’t follow the instructions.
4. The message promises a reward or gift from Whatsapp or another party.
5. Just because a message was forwarded to you by a friend or family member, doesn’t make it legitimate. (friends and family can be just as gullible as any other person)

[ARTICLE BY DAVID WILES]

Tags: phishing, security, spam

This entry was posted on Monday, January 9th, 2017 at 10:24 am and is filed under Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.