New WhatsApp scam outbreak hits South Africa
Updated | By Breakfast with Martin Bester
WhatsApp accounts are being hacked in South Africa by scammers - simply to ask for money.
Scammers are hijacking South African telephone numbers through number porting. Thankfully, they cannot access bank accounts.
Scammers simply ask the friends of the victim for an 'emergency' cash donation by way of e-wallet transfer services.
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The scammers first take control of a victim's phone number - usually by porting the number to a new service provider, and so associating it with a SIM card under their control.
That allows scammers to send and receive messages on WhatsApp, and so take control of an existing account.
Scammers will have full access to the victim's WhatsApp.
And they port numbers to @MTNza. My @CellC_Support number was ported to mtn by the hacker. Hence they we able to go to my Whatsapp. pic.twitter.com/b3KnPcYluL
— Nkgono Neria (@neriahlakotsa) January 4, 2020
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