When businessman Mohammed Yousaf received an urgent plea for assistance from one of his oldest friends, he rushed to the rescue.
The 56-year-old received a WhatsApp message from the account of a man he had been friends with for 50 years. It began with the greeting 'Salaam', followed by the message: "Please, I need a little assistance from you..."
Mohammed was concerned about his friend and inquired how he could help. He was told that his friend was attempting to send £800 to an account, but it did not function, and he was asked if he could make the payment instead, with his friend reimbursing him the next day.
What transpired was a fraud that terrified Mr. Yousaf and cost him £800. Unfortunately, he's not alone.
Last month, men in East Lancashire were warned of blackmail fraud after scammers posing as Eastern European gang members sent threatening requests for payment. Police said men in Accrington and Blackburn were pushed into giving over substantial sums of cash after getting disturbing messages and video calls of someone carrying a pistol.
Action Fraud, the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, reports that fraudsters are now targeting group chat participants in order to exploit WhatsApp users. The fraud often begins when a member of the group receives a WhatsApp audio call from the fraudster, who pretends or claims to be another member of the group.
This is done to earn the individual's trust, and the scammer will frequently use a phoney profile image and/or display name, giving the impression that it is a genuine member of the group.
The fraudster will inform the victim that they are providing them a one-time passcode that will allow them to participate in an upcoming video call for group members. The perpetrator then asks the victim to reveal the passcode so that they can be "registered" for the video conference.
In reality, the attacker is asking for a registration number to migrate the victim's WhatsApp account to a new device, allowing them to take over the account.
Once the fraudster has gained access to the victim's WhatsApp account, they will activate two-step verification, making it impossible for the victim to regain access to their account. Other members of the group, or friends and family in the victim's contacts, will then be messaged, urging them to wire money immediately because they are in urgent need of assistance.
According to Detective Superintendent Gary Miles, head of the City of London Police's National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, WhatsApp remains a key channel of communication for several people in the UK, but fraudsters continue to figure out ways to gain access to these platforms.
