Recognizing and preventing WhatsApp fraud in 6 steps

WhatsApp fraud is increasingly common in the Netherlands. Criminals capture money by, for example, pretending to be a family member via the messaging service. With these six tips you protect yourself against this fraud.

More and more victims of WhatsApp fraud via smartphones

The number of reports of WhatsApp fraud has quadrupled this year compared to 2019. The Fraud Helpdesk had received 9605 reports of fraud attempts on October 1, 2020. The over-55s are a particularly vulnerable group, because they fall for it most often. In 242 of the reports, criminals were even able to take over the entire WhatsApp account.

The ‘friend-in-need’ fraud is now the most common. Fraudsters pretend to be a friend or family member who just got a new number. They then ask to transfer money and promise to pay it back of course. To stay out of the picture, the scammers use other people’s bank accounts. For example, the account of an unsuspecting person is misused, or they use accomplices.

Sometimes criminals manage to take over an entire WhatsApp account. They then contact you about, for example, an open advertisement of yours on Marktplaats, and with an excuse they try to extract the verification code. Once you forward it, the scammers can take over your WhatsApp and use it to scam your contacts.

In fact, cybercrime is increasing so much that people are more likely to suffer financial loss as a result of an online incident than to be victims of property crime, vandalism or violence. This is according to a report by the Central Planning Bureau, which looks at the economic risks of cybercrime every year.

This is how you recognize and prevent WhatsApp fraud

It is therefore important that you recognize WhatsApp fraud so that you do not give your cyber criminals a chance. There are several ways you can spot WhatsApp fraud. We list them for you.

1. Never give out a WhatsApp verification or registration code

Never give out data if a person who approaches you suddenly asks to forward a previously received (WhatsApp) code. Scammers usually look for your number online via, for example, Facebook or Marktplaats. Then they change the number in WhatsApp to your number on their own phone. To complete this registration, they need a code. You will receive this on your iPhone for checking.

Then they approach you for an advertisement or something else, for example, and a little later they use the excuse that they have just sent you a code that was intended for their husband, for example. They ask them to forward them. With this they register on WhatsApp as you, and they can scam others under your name. This is therefore a form of identity theft.

Never cooperate with this by never giving or forwarding such codes to others. You can recognize a verification code because the SMS also states that it is a WhatsApp registration code.

2. Don’t trust: acquaintance with unknown number

If the scammer pretends to be someone you know, you usually get a message from an unknown number with the WhatsApp profile picture of a friend. For example, this so-called acquaintance asks if you can advance something because of money shortage, and that it is in a hurry.

3. Call the ‘acquaintance’

When you try to call the person, the scammer claims it can’t, or it turns out it can’t for some reason. In such a case, call the person who the fake acquaintance appears to be from from your own address book. This way you immediately know if something is not right. Don’t transfer money until you can reach them.

4. Ask personal questions

The conversation is quite general and ultimately deals with the money that the ‘acquaintance’ needs to pay an outstanding bill, for example. In such a case, ask personal questions to which a stranger cannot know the answer.

For example, about where you recently had dinner together, what car you have (unless photos of this are publicly available online) or something else specific. If the potential scammer is evading or unaware of these questions, you are almost certainly dealing with a cyber criminal.

5. Look up the number

Look up the number that will be contacted. The number may already be known to be fraudulent. Cyber ​​criminals sometimes use a certain phone number several times in a row before switching to a new number. If the telephone number is on a blacklist, then you know enough.

6. Shield your profiles

Many scammers collect phone numbers through Marktplaats and pick profile photos from social media. So never put your phone number on public when you place an ad on Marktplaats.

In addition, shield your Facebook and Instagram profile as much as possible. Also make sure that your friends list on Facebook is not set to public. Not only your information, but also names, mutual reactions and information about family and friends can be used during the fraud trick.

Victim of WhatsApp fraud? File a report

Have you fallen victim to WhatsApp fraud? Always report to the police. From the research of CPB it turns out that the number of reports of cybercrime is still relatively low.

The perpetrators are often difficult to trace, they are abroad and there is also a shortage of detectives who specialize in cybercrime. As a result, the chance of being caught is low, and a suspect is found in less than five percent of the cases.

This does not mean that reports of WhatsApp fraud and other cybercrime are not taken seriously by the police. New laws, for example, now give the police more powers to track down such suspects.

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