WhatsApp account has expired: what to do when you receive a chain letter email?
A chain letter is currently circulating, incorrectly telling users that their WhatsApp account has expired. This practical tip tells you what you should do with the message if you suddenly find the mail on your smartphone unexpectedly.
Fraudulent chain letter with alleged WhatsApp message in circulation
The email, which is currently being sent as a chain letter by fraudsters, is so badly made that nobody should fall for it. Unfortunately, there are always good faith victims.
- The only "good" idea of the internet gangsters was to send the supposed email from WhatsApp as a graphic. As a result, it can hardly be checked for many spam programs and subsequently ends up in your mailbox.
- Otherwise, the news is simply unbelievable. Spelling and grammar should immediately make every recipient deeply suspicious.
- If you haven't looked at the sender more closely by then, you will find that WhatsApp would never send an email with such an address.
- The content of the message is all about the obvious: your money. You will be asked to transfer any amount between one and four euros in order to activate your WhatsApp account for another one to five years. You should also follow a link that redirects you to the corresponding page.
- Of course, the phishing scammers are not interested in the small change, because they would like your credit card details.
How to protect yourself from phishing scams
It is always helpful if you have your mail checked beforehand using a spam program.
- As soon as an email strikes you as strange, examine it a little more closely for spelling and grammatical errors. These emails are often created using translation programs or by people who do not speak German very well.
- Take a very close look at the sender. Most of them are obscure Internet addresses.
- A missing personal salutation can also indicate a fraudulent chain letter.
- Under no circumstances click on the given links and do not enter any sensitive, personal data.
- Enter the known, official company URL (from WhatsApp) manually and inform yourself there, for example from customer service, about the alleged situation.
- By the way, you can easily display on your smartphone where the link ultimately leads. Tap on the link and hold your finger on the screen until the dialog window with the corresponding information can be seen.
- Note: Of course, these are all just clues that you can use to identify potentially fraudulent emails. But there are also very skillfully fake mails. Therefore: distrust the sender as soon as he wants to tap sensitive data.
Extreme caution is required not only against phishing scams on the Internet. Some criminals are still trying their luck in the old-fashioned way, for example by ripping off the phone.