Surely it has happened to you on more than one occasion that you have received a WhatsApp message from a completely unknown person, the product of an error or mistake when writing the phone number.
Until then, nothing seems to happen if you let the other person know that they have made the wrong contact; However, a few days ago on the WABetaInfo portal an alert was sent to all WhatsApp users, since they could be victims of scam if they respond to those messages sent by strangers.
According to the portal specialized in technology, several WhatsApp users reported that they have received a message in said app with the following text: “Excuse me, who are you? I found this number in my address book ”; If that has been your case, cybersecurity experts recommend ignoring it and even blocking the issuer’s number, since behind it there could be someone interested in getting your personal data.
The aforementioned website explained that behind this question sent to WhatsApp users is a scammer who first thing he did was buy a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) number and through it they cast their hooks, either to a user specific or random people.
Once the phone number is chosen with WhatsApp, they send this question, waiting for their victim to answer them. “They are always nice to you because they want to earn your trust. They begin to ask for simple details, for example, what is his name and job and how old is he, and they pay some compliments to make him feel good, “they warn from WABetaInfo.
And as they gain the trust of their victim, they are asking, for example, to add them to their social networks, such as Facebook or Instagram. If you agree to do so, then you would have completely fallen into their trap, since through these they will be able to access your personal information and even, they could obtain important data with which they could later blackmail their victims to obtain more money.
What to do if I receive this question on WhatsApp?
The protocol to follow is as follows: do not answer it, delete it and in the best case, block the user who sent it to you.
Also, it is not best to provide private information to unknown numbers. Another tip is that to protect your privacy, it is convenient to protect your profile image, something you can do by going to “Settings” and from there to the “Account” option and then to “Privacy”, where you can choose who of your contacts can see it.
“Scammers can send messages to people in a drastic moment of psychological or sentimental fragility and be able to deceive them”, warn cybersecurity experts.