Beware, there is reportedly a new whatsapp scam are circling. Cloudsek.com founder Rahul Sasi sheds light on a new OTP Fraudulent claim being used to kidnap her WhatsApp users accounts. According to Sasi, cybercriminals are using a simple trick to take over WhatsApp accounts. In a Twitter post, Sasi explained in detail how the scam works.
How whatsapp otp scam Works
The hacker calls the victim and persuades her to dial “**67* or *405*”. Once the victim dials any of these numbers, they are logged out of their WhatsApp account, and the attacker takes full control over it. If you wonder how, read on. Elaborating on the same, Sasi says what happens here is that the number dialed by the victims is a service request to Reliance Jio and Airtel, “call forwarding” when their number is busy/busy. The attacker deceives the victims and forwards their calls to the number owned by them. Now in the backend, the hacker triggers the WhatsApp registration process for the victims’ number and chooses to send the OTP via phone call. Since the victim’s phone is connected, the OTP will go to the hackers’ phone and they will get access to the WhatsApp account.
How whatsapp otp scam Works
The hacker calls the victim and persuades her to dial “**67* or *405*”. Once the victim dials any of these numbers, they are logged out of their WhatsApp account, and the attacker takes full control over it. If you wonder how, read on. Elaborating on the same, Sasi says what happens here is that the number dialed by the victims is a service request to Reliance Jio and Airtel, “call forwarding” when their number is busy/busy. The attacker deceives the victims and forwards their calls to the number owned by them. Now in the backend, the hacker triggers the WhatsApp registration process for the victims’ number and chooses to send the OTP via phone call. Since the victim’s phone is connected, the OTP will go to the hackers’ phone and they will get access to the WhatsApp account.
He says that this trick works globally because every country and service provider has a similar service request number.
For the unaware, WhatsApp sends an OTP to the registered mobile number to verify the users’ account. The SMS consists of a 6 digit verification code (OTP), which the user has to enter on the verification screen in WhatsApp. The verification code is unique and changes each time the WhatsApp account is verified on a new phone number or device.