Last Updated on 2021-05-02 , 5:01 pm
The colour green is way too mainstream. It’s on our buses, it’s our WhatsApp, it’s even our trees… We see green everywhere. No wonder Jair Bolsonaro hates green in the Amazon Forest so much.
Anyway, if you are tired of WhatsApp Green, WhatsApp Pink is here to rescue you.
Advertisements
Except it’s a scam. Now your phone has a virus. Congratulations.
So, What’s WhatsApp Pink?
A fake WhatsApp that takes over your phone, duh. Look at the headline.
But to be more specific, it is a scam that has been circulating around mainly India, though with the internet, everything spreads easily internationally.
Victims would first come across mentions of “WhatsApp Pink” in messages forwarded around WhatsApp groups, containing a link that promises to reveal a pink-themed WhatsApp.
There are even fabricated screenshots of texts in pink, according to India Today. You know, to convince you the app is totally real.
The link brings you to a site with an APK file download, the format of Android applications. Except, instead of a pink WhatsApp, you are really downloading a virus.
The virus then gains control over your phone, and hackers can do whatever they want with it. That’s scary.
The routine advice applies here: be extra cautious when you receive a link to some shady third-party website, even if the link promises billions in reward. Actually, especially if it promises you billions.
Advertisements
You can also report them as spam because, you know, these messages are literally scams.
Also, it would be worthwhile to note that WhatsApp updates are found on official platforms, and anything on a shady third-party website shouldn’t be trusted.
Not The Only WhatsApp Scam
This is not the only WhatsApp scam around. In fact, some nefarious variants are already rampant in Singapore.
In January, the Police cautioned the public to new forms of scams surrounding the takeover of WhatsApp accounts.
In these scams, the victim would receive a WhatsApp message from a contact, asking for a 6-digit verification code that they also received out of nowhere.
Advertisements
In reality, the contact’s WhatsApp has already been taken over, and the verification code is exactly what the scammer needs to gain access to the new victim’s account too.
Kind of like a WhatsApp zombie scheme, if you think about it.
Scammers might also pose as WhatsApp officials purportedly investigating your account for misconduct and asking you for a verification code, or even deliberately key in the wrong verification codes.
The latter would prompt the real WhatsApp to call your phone number, and the call would go to your voicemail if it isn’t picked up.
Scammers would then use the default voicemail password telcos provide—that most people don’t change anyway—to extract the audio message, and take over the account.
Advertisements
The Police advise the public to enable two-step verification on their WhatsApp, and to change the default PIN of their voicemail accounts.
Though, I just wonder, what if all this cleverness wasn’t used on scams? We’d have world peace by now.
If you’ve already decided to abandon WhatsApp and are thinking of using Telegram as your main communication tool, you might want to watch this video to the end:
These five GRCs could see the tightest battle in GE2025; here’s why:
Read Also:
- Trump Exempts Electronics from 125% China Tariffs, Sparing Smartphones and Computers
- Elderly Charity Shop Owner Baffled by Over 50 Boxes of Mystery Donation Blocking Store Entrance
- DNA from Two Men Discovered on Murdered Singaporean Woman’s Clothing as Court Orders Comparison with Main Suspect
- Former Police Officer Convicted in Fatal Maid Abuse Case That Left Victim Weighing Just 24kg
- Teen Arrested in Johor for Selling AI-Generated Fake Nudes of School Peers for RM2 Each
