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A friend's WhatsApp account was hacked leading to another friend having thousands of pesos stolen

    I'm still trying to get to the bottom of this, but in a nutshell:

    Some friends of someone very close to me are in a WhatsApp group and one of them posted that his account had been hacked. He then asked everyone not to send him any messages and to refrain posting in the group.

    Later that day, the someone very close to me received a message from another very close friend in that group saying that they had just had hundreds of thousands of pesos stolen that very day, but didn't go into any more detail.

    I'm being vague for obvious reasons and later today I'm hoping to find out if there is any link between the two occurrences.

    From my research so far, some of this has to do with mysterious messages asking WhatsApp users to confirm a pin code to an unknown email account, which is also related to very fast battery drain.

    More info to follow.

  • Jump to the most helpful post

    Quote from GlasgowJohn

    If you respond to a pin code request on Whatsapp, you are a fool.


    Sorry for being so blunt.

    It was worse than that.

    The one that had his WhatsApp account hacked had the same happen to his Instagram account and one of the close friends received a WhatsApp message from 'him' saying that he had changed his telephone number. That was in November and they exchanged the odd message until confidence was built up. The WhatsApp photo was of the person she thought it should be.

    This week the friend received a message from 'him' saying he wanted to sell several thousand dollars. The friend then phoned the 'new' number but he didn't reply, but the the friend received a message saying that he was busy with something related to his work, which the friend immediately recognised because that's what they knew that he did.

    The person impersonating who she thought it was, then sent bank details and the friend transferred hundreds of thousands of pesos to that account because, guess what? Friends are friends.

    Minutes later, the friend's son phoned and said 'Don't do it, it's probably a scam.' But it was too late.

    We have a few friends here to whom we would lend money if they had a problem.


    We often buy and sell dollars with friends and acquaintances.


    But would we do either on the back of a Whats app text message?


    Absolutely no way......................

    That's what the scammer was relying on. We also change between friends because we know we can trust them. However, I would definitely have paused.

    Isn't hindsight wonderful?

    bebopalula , thanks for raising awareness on that QR code scam. I have never heard of it here, but hackers and scammers are very creative! As I work with sensitive data, I have had clients concerned with identity theft and are very concerned to email me their sensitive details. It is unfortunately a thriving time for scammers, with so many people not digitally-born and prone to being scammed.

    • Helpful

    Yes! When I moved to Capital, I simply told them lady across the country that I was residing in street so and so. No need to prove anything.


    However, at the Italian Consulate they ask to submit at least two proofs of address whenever we updated our details. As a result, many people don't bother unless they are forced to (usually, every 10 years when they have to renew their passport and show a DNI with a different address than that registered 10 years ago. Then they go crazy that the consulate "is difficult" - wtf, nobody forced you to become Italian!).


    In Italy, when we report a change of address, the local police comes to your new place to verify you actually reside there. They have 45 days to do so. Last time I changed my address, they kept coming at 2-3 PM during workdays. They are not supposed to schedule the visit as they have to verify that you live there and not that it is staged. I finally had to tell them to come after 8.30 PM because I was at work until late every day.