The National Police in Alicante have issued an alert regarding a significant increase in attempted scams nationwide involving the impersonation of WhatsApp accounts. This type of fraud involves cybercriminals soliciting money from victims' contacts by exploiting vulnerabilities in mobile devices and the application itself. While the incidence is low in the province of Alicante, the national increase has prompted the public warning.
The National Police have detected a significant increase in reports of attempted fraud nationwide over the past month, although the incidence in the province of Alicante has been low to date. The fraud occurs due to vulnerabilities in some mobile phone models that do not have the latest security version compatible with their operating system. They also lack the latest version of the WhatsApp application itself.
Modus operandi: digital identity theft
Cybercriminals use the victim's digital identity, impersonating them in recent conversations to contact family, friends, or acquaintances. The goal is to solicit money, exploiting the existing relationship of trust. Analysis of reported cases reveals a common pattern in the fraudulent use of WhatsApp accounts. To the message recipient, everything appears legitimate. It arrives from their usual phone number, with the contact's name and the details of a previous conversation.
Shared accounts between victim and scammer
In most cases, the victim retains access to their mobile app while a third party is able to send messages using their identity. In this way, the legitimate user and the perpetrator coexist on the same account without the former being banned. Furthermore, no unknown sessions are observed within WhatsApp's "Linked Devices" feature. According to the victims, they never provided registration codes or PINs. They also never scanned QR codes or voluntarily linked their WhatsApp account to another person.
The fraudulent messages do not appear on the victim's device. However, recipients receive requests for money within legitimate chat conversations. They may even provide a bank account number, which in some cases may belong to a foreign institution.
Preventive advice from the National Police
Given the increase in these scams recorded in recent weeks, the National Police advises citizens to follow a series of preventative measures to protect their WhatsApp accounts:
- Update to the latest available security version compatible with your mobile phone's operating system.
- Reinstall the updated version of the WhatsApp application.
- Activate two-step verification for that application.
- Check the "Linked Devices" feature from time to time. However, the absence of unknown devices should not be interpreted as proof that the account has not been compromised. Any session that is not recognized should be closed.
- Do not share SMS, QR, registration, or verification codes with another person.
What to do if you are a victim of an attempted scam
If you are a victim of this attempted scam, the National Police indicate a series of steps to follow to minimize the impact and proceed with filing a complaint:
- Notify family, friends, and contacts through an alternative means to ignore any financial requests.
- Report the impersonation through WhatsApp's official support mechanisms.
- Go to police stations to file the corresponding complaint.
