An increasing number of cases are being reported “sophisticated” scam method on WhatsApp which can end up with our banking details or Amazon accounts and the like. And we use the quotes because, despite being somewhat novel, in the end it is still a somewhat suspicious method for anyone who is up to date with scams. The problem is that not everyone is.
It all starts with a video call which is received through the well-known messaging application. Of course, the sender poses as a member of a well-known company in order to gain the victim’s trust. What happens next if it bites can be fatal.
Screen sharing: the worst idea on WhatsApp
As we said in the introduction, there are gangs dedicated to making video calls via WhatsApp to random users (or so it seems) in order to impersonate a bank manager or similar. At first it is something that should sound strange to us at the very least, since companies often have company WhatsApp chats that they use for communication, but they rarely offer video calls and much less do they make them. In any case, like any scam, in the end there is a certain audience less knowledgeable about these matters that can fall for it.
The ultimate goal is for you to share your screen. In between they use all kinds of excuses. If they foresee or detect that the victim is not very given to new technologies, they pretend that they are not able to establish communication properly due to some technical problem and suggest that they “press a button” that fixes it and that it is none other than sharing. screen. On other occasions they are directly asked to share the screen with any cheap excuse such as being able to check if their bank account is safe.
If the victim falls and ends up sharing the screen, the scammer is able to see everything that happens on their mobile. The best thing that can happen (to the scammer) is that the victim does not have any authentication method such as Face ID configured in the bank application and thus has to manually enter the password. Obviously, when sharing the screen you will be seeing what that key is. And it happens not only with banking apps, but also with Amazon accounts and the like.
The end of the story is just what you expect: the scammer has access to the account and this ends up giving him the power to carry out transactions. Even to change the pin and keep your account hijacked. From there the importance of always establishing two-factor authentication so that even having the password does not serve to enter the account and much less carry out unauthorized operations.
Apple also takes action against video call scams
In countries like Spain, as much as some of us value FaceTime, the truth is that it is not even remotely the main video calling app. Maybe among iOS users, but not in general. The fact is that in the United States it is and in the same way that here we find scams on WhatsApp through video calls, similar things happen there with FaceTime.
With iOS 17.5, which will be released next week, Apple implements the possibility of suddenly blocking all participants in a FaceTime video call. This is their way of combating another scam mechanism in which suddenly one ends up entering a mass call in which a good part of the participants are victims of what scammers try to sell as a real product or service.
In any case, whether FaceTime, WhatsApp or any other, be careful when faced with calls from strangers It is always advisable. It doesn’t matter if it is a hidden number who is calling or if it is simply a number that we do not have in the phonebook. It doesn’t matter if it’s a video call and it looks good. They may say that they belong to a reputable company, but it is always best to be suspicious. And of course, never share a screen with them and even less open our accounts when we are in that process.