The Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday warned residents in a statement yesterday of phishing* messages in which fraudsters pretending to be WhatsApp representatives send scam messages to users of the messaging service to hijack their accounts.
The statement noted that the scam messages claim that the respective user’s WhatsApp account has been “abnormal” and is being accessed from foreign countries (such as India, Japan and the Philippines), potentially leading to data leaks. The scammers then ask the user to “verify their account immediately” by clicking on a link.
According to the statement, when the victims click on the link, they are redirected to a WhatsApp contact controlled by the scammers, who provide an 8-digit code and instruct the victims to enter the code into their WhatsApp interface.
The respective victim’s WhatsApp account is then immediately hijacked by the scammers, who use it to deceive the victim’s contacts or engage in other illegal activities, the statement said.
The Judiciary Police reminded members of the public in the statement that WhatsApp will never ask members of the public to click on any link through SMS or software messages to deal with account suspension issues, no matter how realistic it appears to be, adding that any official WhatsApp account has a “blue tick” beside the name of its holder.
One may call the PJ anti-scam hotline on 8800 7777 or the crime report hotline on 993 for assistance if one suspects that he or she is a victim of fraud or other crimes.
*Phishing is a type of cyber attack where criminals impersonate legitimate organisations or individuals to trick victims into revealing sensitive information. – DeepSeek
This undated poster provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) shows details about the phishing messages.
