In 2009, former Yahoo! employees Brian Acton and Jan Koum, after being turned down for jobs at Facebook, developed a program originally designed to direct Apple users to new online apps, which they called Whatsapp (mimicking 'what's up?'). After a few iterations, the app's functions grew to include messaging, text services, and video and image sharing. By December 2013, WhatsApp claimed it had 400 million active users every month.
In 2014, Mark Zuckerburg found $15 billion under his sofa and Facebook bought Whatsapp. Security improved and end-end encryption and 2-step verification were added, whereas before the app used unencrypted plain text in places and images could be intercepted when the app re-sent a failed delivery. Other slightly safer free message apps, like Cyphr, Wckr and Telegram had links to their products blocked by FB. :) It's widely believed the NSA has a backdoor inside Whatsapp but they have never confirmed this.
Inevitably, the scammers, spammers and hackers who'd been so successful making millions from Facebook had a new playground. Over the next few months friends, family and lovers will share literally billions of messages, photos and videos. Here are just a few scams to look out for this Christmas if you use Whatsapp:
1. The Whatsapp Gold scam
Want to join an elite group of people, like celebrities and film stars, on Whatsapp? With Whatsapp Gold we can! We can send 10 images at one time and experience video calling before it's rolled out across the network. NOT. Many new apps get the 'Premium' scam, where a free app offers a paid service, which is supposed to be better. It is usually a Trojan designed to look like an app. Just click the links on the message and fill in the form giving out our private address and banking details... Yay, we've been hacked! Also called WhatsApp Plus, WhatsApp Pro, and WhatsApp Star. Please delete this message if you want to keep your money and sanity.
NB. Um, Wattpad are a free app that is really offering a premium service, for some reason, in case you wondered.
2. The 'WhatsApp Has Expired, Pay to Renew' scam
This is an old scam, which attackers have used on many free apps especially popular ones. It keeps going round and dupes more unsuspecting users than any other scam. We get a message from an unknown number that says our WhatsApp has expired (we have a matter of days or hours before it runs out) and we need to pay to renew it. If we click the link and put in our credit card number, we give the con artists a great Christmas. Whatsapp will always be free as long as Facebook makes millions out of user tracking-based advertising targeting and other corporate tie-ins. Corporate greed ensures Whatsapp's future as a free app.
3. The WhatsApp supermarket survey scam
A new scam in the UK it's bound to spread worldwide with key supermarkets being impersonated. The message arrives saying it's from Tesco, Asda or Aldi (in the UK) offering hundreds of pounds in store vouchers if we simply fill in an online form. Complete the bank details section and expect to be penniless by Christmas.
4. The WhatsApp voice-calling scam
The original voice-calling feature was genuinely rolled out via invitation, but is now available to Android users who download the latest update through the Whatsapp website. However, many people have fallen for fake invitation messages to activate the function (also used for fake voicemail activation). When we click the link we're taken to a website where we are asked to click more links. They trigger one or more of the following:
a) They can resend the original fake message to everyone on our Whatsapp contact list
b) They open survey forms asking for personal details and bank details
c) They download apps deliberately infected with malware
d) The website pages feature malverts
LINK1 – Secret of Safe Surfing ~ Malvertising
5. The 'Ultra-Light W-ifi' scam
Similar to scam 4, this promises a new Whatsapp feature when we click a link. The idea that a Facebook company would offer its users free wi-fi is pretty stupid but this scam is still fairly successful.
Step 1: The sting begins when we click the link. We're taken to a website that insists we must invite 15 friends before we get the 'free wi-fi signal'.
Step 2: We invite 15 friends , listing their details, and must click the 'activation' button.
Step 3: We're taken to a second page where we must fill in one or more surveys to 'prove we are human'. This is an attempt to look security conscious by mimicking a Google CAPTCHA system (admittedly without the 20 hidden Google trackers) but instead of clicking images of cars they're using survey forms. Yeah, right.
Step 4: The surveys are actually going to ad marketing firms, marketing companies and third party partners of the biggest websites in the world. If we work out we're giving our details to these companies and who they are(by researching the addresses in the address bar) we'll see the small print in their T&Cs states that, by clicking these links, we're agreeing to them selling on our details to all comers (including hackers). We can expect a deluge of, cold calls, spam messages and potential exploits. We never actually get the ultra-light wi-fi but are offered new apps, many of which contain Trojans.
What's free wi-fi anyway?
Although this last one is the most common scam used by 'legitimate' companies, it's worth mentioning my wi-fi rule of thumb whenever I go into a bar, coffee shop, hotel or airport. Free wi-fi is, I go into a place, they give me the wi-fi password and I go online. It is NOT me filling in an online form before I can connect. True, they will try to block my phone's carrier if I don't subscribe, so then I just don't use the internet. Yes, I have that POWER. But that's just me. Consider or ignore. :)
LINK 2 Whatsapp website's scam FAQs (12 trackers)
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