With the increase in usage of social media platforms and digital payment methods, the hackers are founding new ways to attack the users and steal their hard-earned money and their private data. Now a new scam, known as WhatsApp OTP scam, has come to the light and this time the scammers have made the instant-messaging app WhatsApp as their ladder to your bank accounts.
The WhatsApp OTP scam is posing as a bigger threat as recently, the instant-messaging app got the green signal for its UPI-based payments facility from the NPCI, which also uses the OTPs for transactions. In view of this, if your WhatsApp account gets compromised, then not just the data, hackers are likely to get hold of your bank account details.
So, here we are going to know about the latest WhatsApp OTP scam and how you can avoid getting duped.
How does the WhatsApp OTP scam work?
In the WhatsApp OTP scam, the scamsters will contact you via SMS, pretending to be your friend or relative. The fraudster may even try to get your attention by describing some kind of emergency. After gaining your trust, the scammer will ask you for an OTP, which he will claim to be an accidental forward on your number.
Once you shared the OTP, you will be logged out of your WhatsApp account and the hacker will get full access to your messages, contacts and your personal media. The hacker can also send messages to your friends and relatives and can also ask for monetary help from them. The chain of the event gets multiplied once the scammer hacks into your account.
How to avoid getting duped?
If you mistakenly forwarded the OTP to the scammer, you should immediately reset your WhatsApp account and log in again. The rule of thumb to prevent these type of frauds is to never share any information without confirming if the message is genuine. You can also avoid this fraud by activating the two-factor authentication on the app to increase the account’s security.
