Have you received a WhatsApp message offering 1000GB free Internet data? Beware, as it is a scam that is spreading fast. Researchers from cybersecurity firm ESET received a message on WhatsApp stating that the app was giving away 1000GB of internet data to celebrate its 10th anniversary this year.
The fraudulent campaign is hosted by a domain that is home to yet more bogus offers pretending to come from other well-known brands. “What strikes us right off the bat here is that the URL that comes with the message is not an official WhatsApp domain,” the researchers said in a blog post. Even though businesses may sometimes run promotions through third parties, the rule of thumb here is to check on the company’s website to make sure any promotion is real and valid.
Furthermore, if a user taps the link, then he/she would reportedly be redirected to a page that invites you to answer a series of questions. The survey includes questions like how you found the offer to your opinion on the app. “While you would be responding to the questionnaire, the site would invite you to pass along the offer to at least 30 more people in order to qualify for the big reward’. Needless to say, this is merely a way to boost the campaign’s reach,” said the researchers.
Besides, recently it was reported that WhatsApp is working on a multi-platform system. This will ensure that users can use the service on multiple devices without any issues. WhatsApp will allow users to use the same account, possibly with the chat history on iOS and Android.
WABetaInfo revealed that WhatsApp is working on a UWP version of WhatsApp to allow multi-platform usage. Current WhatsApp Web will work without any change. To clarify, the UWP app can work independently while the Web version will still require an internet connection. This means that users will be required to be connected to the app on a mobile device or through the UWP app.
– With inputs from IANS
