Despite of internet being hailed as a force on the good side, it has also been plagued by scams. Just to take a count, we’ve had Facebook Scams, Twitter Scams, Skype and many more. The concerned social media and instant messaging platform have tried an all-out effort to avoid such scams and tried to make people aware of the situation before any damage was done. Yet, hackers could easily abate security standards, mess-up with user data and ultimately get away with tons of sensitive data.
Although there’s a chance you haven’t encountered one yet, but the monolithic IM client WhatsApp too has been plagued by such scams. While some of these scams are downright silly, some of them can actually bewilder users and leave them confused. Listed below are some of such scams that you should beware.
Hoax 1: WhatsApp is Ending at 6pm
The first on our list is the latest scam that you might catch sooner or later. It reads as-
So the hoax says, WhatsApp will charge you money soon because its servers have congested. Under no circumstances this message proves its authenticity. WhatsApp never makes your account active or inactive regardless of network congestion and without the user’s consent.
Hoax 2: Premium Versions of WhatsApp
Have you ever been in the list of receiving WhatsApp Gold’s invitation? Well, some users were allegedly sent Gold membership invitations, which turned out to be fakes.
In their defense, WhatsApp does sends invitations to contacts on your list who haven’t yet installed WhatsApp. But it never sends invites for pro/gold/plus/star or any such version without publically announcing such update.
Hoax 3: WhatsApp virus
WhatsApp virus isn’t delivered from within the app, but via the email client on your phone. Users are sent an email saying that you have a missed call on WhatsApp or a voice message. The email contains a link that claims to show the missed conversation or call. Upon tapping on it, a virus is downloaded on your device.
Yes, this sure sounds misleading but WhatsApp never provides notifications through an outside source. Since WhatsApp uses your phone number, there’s no way they would provide any notification through a source as vulnerable and unrelated as email. It is best to ignore such messages or simply report them as spam.
Hoax 4: WhatsApp chain message
You must have seen chain messages on WhatsApp, wherein we are asked to forward a message to 10 people on our contact list. These are absolute crap and you must simply ignore such bogus information.
A typical chain message forwarded on WhatsApp –
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Reference Source
To these scams, WhatsApp has responded as-
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Reference Source
Hoax 5: WhatsApp Spy App
You might have come across a WhatsApp Spy App that will allow you peep into other’s chats. Yeah, you got that right! What better than a chance to spy on your ex. But in reality there is no such app in existence, making this an absolute hoax.
This hoax has proliferated so much so that if you search ‘WhatsApp Spy App’ on Google, you’ll find several articles on how to spy on other people along with links for various apps and software. However, most of these links are gateways to malware and spyware on your device and should never be downloaded or clicked.
Having listed these scams, we’d also like to mention what the officials at WhatsApp have to say about these scams. “We work diligently to reduce any spam messages that come through our system. Creating a safe space for users to communicate with one another is a priority….
Even if you receive these messages, it is always advised to block the sender and disregard or delete the message. To avoid exposing your contacts to potential harm, never forward these messages and report the spam immediately.