How to Stop Strangers from Adding You to WhatsApp Groups to Avoid Cyber Scams
MADRID, July 15 (Portaltic/EP) –
fraud through WhatsApp are numerous, like this one that cybercriminals resort to create groups with random numbers users try to offer fraudulent ways to get money or any other type of deception that can be avoided by setting up privacy settings.
Cybercriminals use several platforms to directly and in different ways contact potential victims. One such platform is the messaging network owned by Meta. WhatsAppfrom which the attackers They abuse this by creating groups with a large number of unknown users.
In this sense, they use these groups as a hook to try to trick the users who came up with it, usually deals with investment issues in cryptocurrencies, offers fraudulent labor in which they offer big money for a small job or shipment information and links to fake websites.
This is stated in a message from the National Police. groups that have foreign phone numbers. This is indicated by the telephone prefix, which is preceded by a different number than the one used in Spain (+34). For example, the prefix for Taiwan is +886.
One day you wake up and find in your 📲 that you have been added to a strange group #WhatsApp
🚨 Be careful 👀
👉Follow these tips to avoid getting into such a situation. #fraud and the week is starting off well 🤗#Good morning 🌞 pic.twitter.com/O8Hv4gtbsv
— National Police (@policia) July 15, 2024
This type of behavior can lead to users starting to trust and therefore access or register on fraudulent siteswith the help of which cybercriminals can steal your information staff or install “malicious software”. The same thing happens by simply clicking on certain links or accessing content published in the specified groups.
Therefore, in the face of these situations and in order to avoid possible fraud, the National Police has indicated that it It is important to prevent unknown users from adding other users to strange WhatsApp groups. without your permission.
To avoid this practice on WhatsApp, you need to access parameter meta-applications and, in privacy tabjust choose an option ‘My contacts’, In chapter “Who can add me to groups”.
Thus, Only phone numbers saved as contacts will be able to add the corresponding user to WhatsApp groups.thereby preventing unknown people and potential scammers from interacting with new groups.
Besides all this, if they are in someone else’s group, users They can also report the group, in situations that have indications that it may be a fraudulent group or part of a fraud.