DIGITAL LIFE

Survey indicates 8.5 million Brazilians cloned on WhatsApp

Each day, an average of 23 people are victims of cloning in the WhatsApp application. This is what a survey by digital security company PSafe shows. The estimate was based on a survey of 12,680 people from July 31 to August 13 this year.
The most common consequences of losing access to WhatsApp are leaks from private conversations (26.7%), scamming contacts (26.6%), bank deposit requests to friends (18.2%) and blackmail for recovery. of the account (10.5%). The survey also indicates that 18% of victims could no longer regain access to the messaging application.
WhatsApp cloning occurs when the scammer gets access to the victim's phone number, which is used to enter the application. After that, he needs to trick the account owner into sending him the verification code, which is sent via SMS. By sharing this code, which should be confidential and one of the app's access protection methods, the user loses access to their account - at least temporarily.
This type of scam is not new, but it has gained media attention due to an increase in the number of attempted account theft attempts this year. According to PSafe, over 134,000 attempts were made during the first half of 2019.
To counter this kind of scam, the security app for smartphones with Android system dfndr security - owned by PSafe - recently gained a feature that warns the user when there is an attempt to steal the account on WhatsApp. The application will warn the user if a WhatsApp access abnormality is detected. If he has not tried to log into your account from the application where dfndr is installed, he will be alerted and instructed on how to prevent the scam.
Security experts strongly emphasize the importance of never informing third parties of code received via WhatsApp and also recommend enabling a two-factor authentication password in WhatsApp, a feature that is located in the settings menu under the tab labeled “Account”.

Lucas Agrela