WhatsApp is one of the most widely used messaging programmes across the globe, and that leads to various frauds. A new scam has surfaced where the hacker can take control of your WhatsApp account with just a phone call.
Rahul Sasi, the CEO of cyber security firm CloudSEK, confirmed the news. According to him, victims of WhatsApp hacking receive a phone call from a hacker who asks them to dial "**67*10-digit number> or *405*10-digit number>." Your WhatsApp account is logged out and the hacker has complete control within minutes of contacting.
The number the hacker asks you to dial is actually a call forwarding request for one of India's most prominent cellular service providers, Jio or Airtel. The attacker is just trying to persuade you to redirect your call to a phone number that they control.
The hacker begins WhatsApp's account registration procedure for your phone number and selects the option to get the One Time Password (OTP) via phone call after the call is redirected. However, because your phone is on, the OTP gets transmitted to the hacker's phone, allowing him to gain access to your account.
The scam is common in Asia, but it can be done anywhere because every country and service provider use the same service request number.Hence it would be safe to say that sharing any personal details via call would lead to consequences that might be irreversible and indeed a loss of data as well.
To save yourself from this scam, you need to turn on the two step verification for whatsApp so it will ask for a code everytime you register it on a new device. This will relatively reduce the chances of you losing your account so easily.