June 2023 opens with a old Whatsapp scam which unfortunately has reappeared again on Italian smartphones. This is a scam that starts with an innocent-looking message.
“Hi mom, my phone dropped. This is my new number”: this is the text of the message which is then followed by others where the scammers stage an alleged more or less serious family problem and ask the unfortunate to send money via instant bank transfer. On social networks, reports increase every day and there are those who have reported screenshots in which they see themselves as the criminals ask for up to 5,000 thousand Euros.
How to defend yourself? To clarify is the Online State Police Commissioner, which underlines that these scams “often they appear as harmless messages that actually have the purpose of hooking the victim to urge him to communicate personal data”. According to the police officers, “if you receive a message from your child who warns you that he has broken the phone and asks you to save his new number in your address book contacts, it could be a scam. The first message will be followed by unusual requests for money, the top-up of a prepaid card, the credentials to access the current account”.
I methods to defend themselves are the usual: do not reply to the message, delete the conversation, never give your bank details to strangers, do not save the number in your address book and block it.
We remind you that in the last few hours the update that allows you to edit Whatsapp messages has also arrived in Italy.