By taking advantage of the fact that WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app, they can reach out to far more potential victims than they would using another tool. Scammers are opportunists and will cast as wide a net as possible in the off-chance they manage to catch someone out. Of course, once the cash has been exchanged, suddenly the interested romantic partner will block the victim and become unreachable. If the victim wants in, all it takes is a cash deposit on a cryptocurrency trading site. Not long after the move over to WhatsApp, the scammer will start to talk about cryptocurrency and how a friend or relative they know has come across a lucrative new opportunity. Once a rapport has been established, the scammer will push for the victim to expand on the connection through messaging apps - typically WhatsApp. The beginning stages of this scam are actually initiated on dating apps. So long as people are looking for love online, WhatsApp dating scams will look to capitalize on loneliness. If you receive a 6-digit verification code completely out of the blue, you might be the target of a scam. In this situation, the scammer is trying to log in to a victim’s account and needs the verification code to complete their deceit. The only times someone will receive a verification code through WhatsApp is if they’re creating a new account or if someone is trying to log in to their account on an unfamiliar device. They’ll go on to ask for the 6-digit number the victim just received.

One of the messages is an apology from an alleged friend or family member who accidentally had a verification number sent to the victim’s account instead of their own. This verification trick scam starts when the victim receives two messages in quick succession. It’s a common scam because it replicates a typical issue amongst parents and their children. Typically, the scammer impersonates the victim’s child, claiming that their phone is broken and that they’re messaging from a replacement phone or a friend’s phone.ĭue to the new device, the “son/daughter” doesn’t have access to any mobile banking apps and desperately needs the funds to pay an urgent incoming bill or financial charge. The most common and easiest to perform, the impersonation scam involves someone pretending to be a family member. Here are some of the most common WhatsApp scams that you need to be aware of. Scammers want to steal your personal details for identity fraud purposes, install malware to potentially hold your device ransom, or just try to extort money out of you by pretending to be someone they aren’t. Many scammers on WhatsApp will have similar motivations and goals.

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