They warn about a new virtual scam, that circulated these last days on WhatsApp, and uses the allocation of shifts for the vaccine against the coronavirus as bait.
As reported, the objective of this cyber attack is steal the identity of the WhatsApp account from there to send messages to contacts asking for money “urgently”.
The message that tries to deceive the victim says “You have a turn for the second dose of the coronavirus” and adds a link to through which the person must confirm the turn.
By accessing the link, the victim receives a six-digit “code” to complete the alleged procedure. But those six digits are actually the WhatsApp verification step to set up the account on another device.
With this code, the scammers hijack the victim’s WhatsApp account, who will no longer be able to use the messaging service in order to warn their contacts. With the application installed on another phone, criminals start sending messages to the contact book claiming an urgent situation for which they need an immediate money transfer.
As always, the authorities recommended verifying that the contact channels from where the shift is granted are the official ones, be it the website, the mail or the application. From the Buenos Aires Ministry of Innovation they clarified that the message that arrives by WhatsApp to notify the assignment of the shift “does not send or ask for any code.”
What is the six-digit code
It is the verification code that WhatsApp sends as SMS to the cell phone when someone tries to register a WhatsApp account with a phone number.
It is a security measure to prevent someone from registering an account with the number of another, or to prevent a third party from opening an account of another. In this type of scam, the attacker needs those figures to finally take over the account.
In case of falling into the trap, you have to contact WhatsApp to give notice of the fraud. Once the account is recovered, it is essential to activate the two-step verification to avoid possible future attacks.
Once this is done, that code will not be enough to enter the account, but WhatsApp will also ask for the six-digit PIN that the user registered when he activated that new security measure.
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