Beware of these two dangerous new WhatsApp statuses for Mother’s Day as they put personal data at risk
Mother’s Day is celebrated on May 8. A special occasion spent with the family and perhaps to enjoy a nice lunch. But as it happens in every holiday, even in this period there is no shortage of attempts remote scam. These days, there are two that we need to defend against. So beware of these two dangerous new WhatsApp tricks. They promise to reward us with great gifts, but in reality they will only steal our precious sensitive data from us. Let’s see what it is and how not to be deceived.
Fake Ferrero Mother’s Day Contest
WhatsApp is among the most used instant messaging applications in the world. Unfortunately, it is also one of the hackers’ favorite channels for online scams. One of the most recent was Mother’s Day theme. Many are currently receiving a (fake) letter signed by Ferrero, which offers a basket of products after answering a questionnaire.
The questions in the survey are obviously very easy and designed to make everyone win. The problem comes after short tests, when personal data is requested. Whoever lists them puts them in the hands of scammers, spam services and in the most serious cases thieves looking to get access to home banking.
Ferrero herself has recently publicly denied the competition’s existence. So let’s not open the letter and think whether to send it or not Postal police report.
Beware of these two dangerous new WhatsApp statuses for Mother’s Day as they put personal data at risk
The second scam these days is marked by another great name in Italian trade: Nespresso. Our WhatsApp message boards are filled with messages offering a Nespresso Vertuo coffee machine. Also in this case it is considered a cyber attack.
The process is the same. Users are invited to answer some questions and then request their personal data to receive the device. We avoid doing this if we care about our privacy and security.
In addition, this scam has a really deceptive spread mechanism. The contest message arrives in the form of a link that is shared over and over by nearby contacts. The advice, as always, is not to open the message and delete it immediately. If we still have doubts, a simple online search can clarify the situation.
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