WhatsApp: World Cup tickets and Adidas jerseys - that's the message
If you receive a message on WhatsApp that offers World Cup tickets and Adidas jerseys in a Adidas competition, you should exercise caution: this is not really a competition, but a scam.
Supposedly winning World Cup tickets and Adidas jerseys on WhatsApp - what's the deal?
A message is circulating on WhatsApp: In an Adidas competition, 10 tickets for the World Cup final are said to be raffled and official Adidas jerseys are also said to be won. If you think it's too good to be true, you're right:
- It is not an actual Adidas competition.
- The name of the company is being misused to entice users to click on the link contained in the message.
- On the website to which this link leads, you could infect your smartphone with malware such as Trojans or viruses.
- You may also be asked to provide personal information. Then it's phishing.
- Under no circumstances should you follow this link!
Link followed: What you can do now
If you clicked the link, your device could be infected with malware. Trojans could spy on your data such as passwords, so you should safely remove the unwanted software.
- You can use a smartphone virus scanner to find malware.
- You can often delete the malicious software once it has been detected by the scanner.
- If this does not work or you are concerned that there are still remains of viruses or Trojans on your smartphone, you can reset the device to the factory settings or load an earlier backup of the device.
- This reliably removes the malware.