A new scam on WhatsApp takes advantage of the truckers' strike in force in Brazil to deceive messenger users. The threat uses a malicious link as bait that would supposedly show gas stations with available fuel. When trying to access the list, however, the victims would be directed to pages of paid services and apps of dubious origin.
According to information from Kaspersky Lab, about 60 thousand users were victims of the fraud in less than 24 hours. The form of dissemination is already common on WhatsApp, which, being the most popular messaging app in the country, has become a constant target for cybercriminals.
WhatsApp target of coup amid truck drivers strike Photo: Ana Marques / dnetc
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The attack reaches the user via a message on WhatsApp. The text contains the words "Here is the list of stations that will receive gasoline today, check it out" and a shortened link that, in theory, would take a list with the gas stations that still have the fuel.
When accessing the address, however, criminals ask the victim to inform the city and the state in which he is, so that the content can be accessed.
Cybercriminals ask for user location information and redirect them to questionable pages Photo: Divulgao / Kaspersky Lab
The list of stations is not shown below. After sharing the same link with his contact list, he also redirects it to other portals that offer premium services, pages full of advertising or even to applications of dubious origin, which can damage the device.
According to Kaspersky Lab, criminals are profiting mainly from the thousands of views on pages full of advertising, and also from installing the malicious applications suggested by the page.
WhatsApp has more than 120 million active users per month and, therefore, a constant stage of similar scams. On Monday (28), for example, a coup hit about 2,500 people, also in less than 24 hours, offering shirts from the Brazilian team.
WhatsApp victim of successive attacks Photo: Luciana Maline / dnetc
Using the theme of the 2018 World Cup, a fraud still hit users of the app promising albums of stickers of the World Cup and, for that, asking for confidential data. In the last few months, other commemorative dates were once again the target of criminals: at Easter, it was the turn of gift cards worth R $ 800 and, on Mother's Day, the promise was for makeup kits.
Recently, around 50,000 Brazilians had contact with another attempted attack in which criminals offered free cinema tickets to the movie "Avengers: Infinite War". In this case, the page asked the user to answer a series of personal questions.
WhatsApp: five tips for using the app safely
The biggest tip to avoid falling into scams like these is suspicious. Links that promise outrageous offers, free products or services and suspicious news have a high chance of being fraud. To be able to thoroughly assess these and other situations, it is worth checking out our definitive guide to not fall into ambush on Whatsapp.
Some applications can also help with this daily task. DFNDR security, for example, has an anti-phishing tool that easily detects suspicious content on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and even SMS. For scams involving horoscope subscriptions, news and sports, the detection tool of the Whoscall app can contribute to prevention.
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