A New Scam Hits WhatsApp

<center>(Photo Courtesy)</center>

According to online reports, there’s a new malicious link doing rounds on Facebook-owned messaging platform; WhatsApp. According to a Reddit user and reports by TheNextWeb, the link being shared through WhatsApp and other social media platforms tricks users ending up installing malware on their phones.

The link claims to let users download WhatsApp in their favorite color. When clicked, it installs adware on your smartphone instead. Like many other fake URLs, this one also consists of letters from the Cyrillic alphabet. So it can be easily differentiated if one is extra careful.

The Reddit user explains that if the link is clicked, it asks the user to share the same with their friend(s) as part of the verification process.

Once done, your friend(s) receive a message that reads ‘I love the new colors for WhatsApp’, along with the fake URL. After a user is verified, a message says that WhatsApp’s different colors can only be accessed on desktop, and that too via a Google Chrome extension. Following this, the URL directs the user to install a Chrome extension called BlackWhats, which is supposedly an adware.

source: online sourcings