Scammers Using WhatsApp

Recently the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) has seen scammers asking students to use WhatsApp as a way to communicate. This article will go over some tips to help report and spot scammers on WhatsApp.

According to WhatsApp to report a user you have a few options. If you received an unsolicited message from an unknown person you will have the option to report the number directly in chat. 

You can also report a contact or group from their profile using these steps:

• Open the chat.

• Tap on the contact or group name of the person you want to report.

• Scroll to the bottom and tap Report contact or Report group.

Finally you do have the option to send reports to WhatsApp by contacting WhatsApp directly through the app.

WhatsApp also ask users to look out for messages that could by a scam by looking for these red flags:

• Misspelling or grammatical mistakes.

• Asking for you to tap on a link.

• Asking for you to share personal and financial information. Also please do not give your personal or financial information to anyone online especially if you do not know them.

• Asking you to forward the message.

• Asking you to click on a link to “activate” new features.

• Claiming that you have to pay to use WhatsApp.

Below are two links to articles of campaigns that DoIT has seen from scammers sending job scam emails asking for students to reply with their WhatsApp information.
https://itsecurity.umbc.edu/critical/?id=101488

https://itsecurity.umbc.edu/critical/?id=101178

What to do now?

If provided any banking or financial information, please notify your bank or financial institution immediately. If you have been sent a check, you should not attempt to cash or deposit it. If you have deposited a check already, please contact your bank and tell them that it may be part of a scam.

If you think you have been sent a scam please report it to security@umbc.edu and if any part of the scam was through emails please provide full email headers as well. We will also keep track of any other information you submit about the scammers, such as their phone numbers. If you were sent a check or other materials, please send pictures of it and the envelope they came in.

For more information from usa.gov please visit:

https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/security-and-privacy/staying-safe-on-whatsapp/?lang=en 

How do I forward full email headers?

https://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1867970  

To read more articles published by DoIT Security please visit: 

https://itsecurity.umbc.edu/critical/?tag=notice.     

https://itsecurity.umbc.edu/home/covid-19-news/?tag=covid19