NEW YORK (WABC) — This is no April Fool’s prank! Scammers are brushing up on new techniques, looking to break into your accounts and it’s more than just quick cash. They’re after scammer gold, sitting right in your smartphone and Nina Pineda has the warning signs.<\/p>\n
Phone users might not know what’s up with WhatsApp, a global messaging platform people around the world use for business and to keep up with friends and family.<\/p>\n
You might get a text saying the app’s credentials need to be reset, but this is not from WhatsApp and here’s how you can tell.<\/p>\n
It starts with a simple message and a seemingly harmless link, but after a quick click you’ve given these scammers access to something worth more than your passwords: you’ve exposed your saved contacts.<\/p>\n
Matthew Stern, CEO at CNC Intelligence, says the scammers will act as you to get money out of your family and friends.<\/p>\n
“Your contacts, you know, your father, your mother, your sister, your children are going to get a message from you and if they think it’s coming from you, they’re much more likely to believe it to be the story,” he said.<\/p>\n
The bad guys are making fake WhatsApp domains at an alarming rate.<\/p>\n
“How many malicious domains impersonating WhatsApp did you find were being registered?” Pineda asked.<\/p>\n
“We were looking at WhatsApp specifically, there’s over a dozen every day,” Stern said. “So instead of WhatsApp with two Ps, you could have one P.”<\/p>\n
There’s two more phishing texts trying to get you to take the bait this week. There’s one about a fake Amazon recall and another about ordering an Apple iPhone.<\/p>\n
Amy Nofziger with AARP’s Fraud Watch Network reminds us if something feels off, it probably is.<\/p>\n
“Why the recall scam has been pretty successful is it gets people scared and oftentimes people don’t remember what they purchased,” she said. “All scams have the same DNA. They come out of the blue with urgency. They want to get you emotional whether that’s with fear or with excitement.”<\/p>\n
That’s why you have to always double check if a link is legitimate. Some phony links have extra words, strange domains and hyphens, all to make you think you’re heading to the legit site.<\/p>\n
If you’re sent a link, remember to always double check a URL before you click it. Never log into a website through a link you were sent. Treat urgency as a red flag and always check who sent you the link.<\/p>\n
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