Scammers use “dangerous” WhatsApp button to clean bank accounts

WhatsApp is an excellent application for sending messages, photos, videos, links, documents and other files quickly. Despite its popularity in Brazil, the number of scams involving the messenger has grown exponentially in recent years.

The most recent involves the screen share button, which may initially seem harmless, but in fact, hides a huge risk to your banking details. The trap this time is disguised as technical support.

New WhatsApp scam to steal bank details

The new WhatsApp scam is drawing the attention of banking entities that have already reported cases of money being stolen from their customers’ accounts through the screen sharing function.

It works like this: Criminals contact the user through video calls, pretending to be banks or famous brands. The reason for contact is to offer support or some type of “benefit” to the victim. Those who have WhatsApp Business are more susceptible to falling into this type of trap.

Photo: Shutterstock

How do scams happen on WhatsApp?

To prevent yourself from the new trap that criminals apply to WhatsApp, it is good to better understand how it happens in practice. Check out:

• Criminals contact you via WhatsApp pretending to be your bank. Generally they use the profile photo and name identically. Only the phone will be different.
• During the conversation, the scammers say that there was an “error” with the bank account and that a hold charge needs to be made.
• From there, criminals request support to be provided via video call. They will also try to convince the victim to enable screen sharing to identify what the “supposed” problem is.

Criminals ask users to activate the screen sharing function during the scam (Photo: Reproduction)

• Now comes the worst part: as soon as the customer accesses the bank’s app and enters the username and password, criminals will record the screen with all the codes that guarantee access to the account to steal all the money.

Aware of this risk, it is important to note that no banking entity requests access data from customers, whether by email, SMS or even WhatsApp. If you receive a suspicious call, reject it and go to the bank to find out what is really happening.