Scam – The WhatsApp is one of the most downloaded applications in USA. Fact that arouses great interest from scammers, who are cloning accounts in the app across the country. In January alone, more than 198,000 American were victims of such attacks.
And on Wednesday (20), Procon-SP notified both WhatsApp and the country’s largest marketplace sites, such as Mercado Livre , Zap and OLX due to the growing number of crimes involving platforms.
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Procon notifies WhatsApp, OLX and Mercado Livre for being used in scam
The coup in question, according to the agency, consists of monitoring these portals and contacting the victims claiming to be representatives of the respective sites. During the conversation, the scammers request personal information, such as ID and CPF , and a confirmation number that the victim will receive by SMS.
This number is actually the WhatsApp authentication PIN, which is used to clone the account. With access, scammers can send messages to contacts impersonating the user and asking for money or other information.
According to UOL, Mercado Livre confirmed that it received the notification and clarified that it does not display data from buyers and sellers. In addition, it states that it warns users not to disclose their data to other third parties. OLX claimed that it did not receive the notification. However, he stressed that he does not request verification codes or passwords off the site to his users. It also stated that it continually invests in technology and communication with alerts to its consumers. WhatsApp, meanwhile, said it does not comment on court proceedings; while the ZAP did not return contact.
To avoid falling for the scam, Trenovision has prepared a tutorial on how to protect yourself against these invasions and, for those who have already been a victim, they will be able to follow these steps to recover the account.
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