Fraud or scams circulating on WhatsApp are now increasingly varied. Most recently, there are scams that promise money just by liking YouTube videos, but in the end it's the victims who will lose money.
Scams like this are common in India. Cybercriminals usually spread these deceptive messages via WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Initially, fraudsters will contact potential victims via WhatsApp to offer job vacancies. Fraudsters usually claim to be representatives of global media companies whose names are unknown to many.
The vacancies offered are very tempting, users only need to like a YouTube video and will get USD 0.5 per like. Fraudsters promise potential victims can get USD 60 in a day.
To convince potential victims, fraudsters even send small amounts of money, for example USD 2. This money is a payment for completing three tasks where the fraudster will send links to three YouTube videos, then ask the victim to like the videos, and share the screenshots.
After that fraudsters enter the second phase where they will ask for the user's personal data to send payments. Then they'll pretend they're having a technical problem in the checkout process.
The fraudster then asks the victim to download an application to make the money transfer process easier. The problem is, these applications are usually trojans or malware that can steal personal data.
After that the fraudster will ask the victim to send USD 1 for verification. It is there that fraudsters will have all of the user's banking data, starting from OTP, email, bank account and credit card information, as quoted from Gizchina, Monday (1/30/2023).
If you have ever received a message like this, promising a lot of money just by doing a simple job, you should be suspicious because it could be a scam. As soon as they get money from the victim, the fraudster will immediately delete their WhatsApp account and look for other victims.
Be sure to immediately report suspicious WhatsApp accounts like this, and immediately block them so they don't contact you again. Also, don't let your personal number spread on sites or social media in public.