Police warn of ‘WhatsApp hijacking scam’

A man poses with a smartphone in front of displayed Whatsapp logo in this illustration September 14, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

A man poses with a smartphone in front of displayed Whatsapp logo in this illustration September 14, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

Published Jun 22, 2022

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Durban - Police have issued a warning to be wary about a new scam involving the hijacking of people’s WhatsApp accounts.

According to police, you will receive an SMS from a person claiming that they sent you a six-digit code by mistake. They will ask you to share that code as a matter of urgency.

“Hello, I’m sorry I sent you a six-digit code by SMS by mistake. Can you transfer it to me. It’s urgent.”

Police said if you received an SMS with a six-digit code, you should not share that code with anyone.

If you send that code to a scammer, they can log into your WhatsApp account.

Keep your WhatsApp account safe and enable two-step authentication on your WhatsApp account.

Further to that, police advise blocking that person from contacting you again and reporting that number to WhatsApp so that they can have that account suspended.

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