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Whatsapp Users Being Scammed on App’s 10th Birthday

Patrons of Whatsapp are receiving messages offering free 1000GB of data as a gift for being a loyal user of the app on its 10th anniversary. However, the messages being sent are not authentic and are not coming from Whatsapp. Messages arrive stating, “WhatsApp Offers 1000GB Free Internet!” Included in the message is a link that takes users to a page that appears to ask survey questions. To help spread the scam, the link also requests the receiver to share the message with 30 other people in order to obtain their free data. This campaign is a prime example of click fraud, allowing the creators of the campaign to bring in profit from ad clicks. Fortunately, researchers claim there is no evidence of the link included in the messages being used to spread malware or other viruses. It was also discovered that the domain hosting the survey is used in many other fake scams that portray offers from large brand name companies.

Analyst Notes

Many times, in spam campaigns like these the message contained within will have poor grammar and obvious blemishes. Users should look for these as telltale signs of spam. The authenticity of the message and offer should be verified before it is sent off to other users, this will reduce the chances of the campaign being spread.