New hack that can steal your WhatsApp account

In April of this year, a vulnerability was exposed in WhatsApp that let bad actors hijack your account if they had your phone number and take a look at your screen. Users were also being targeted by asking them to share a verification code.

In another case, the hackers would pose as a known person and pretend to have lost access to their account. Then they would tell you that they are going to use your number to reactivate their account and ask you to share a verification code you have received. If the user fell for this and shared their code, they would immediately lose access to their own WhatsApp account.

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The scammers would log into your WhatsApp account with your phone number from another phone. WhatsApp asks you for a verification code to check if you are already logged in from one device and try to log into another. They wold convince people to share these codes after which they would log into your account.

The hackers have gone further and do not even need your phone number. They are now posing as members of WhatsApp Support Team and are sending messages to users saying that someone else is trying to access your WhatsApp account and that a verification code has been sent to your mobile number. Check out an example of such a message on this Twitter link:

A Way to Avoid this

The easiest way to avoid this is to set a PIN on your WhatsApp account. Go to WhatsApp settings on your phone, tap Account and then tap Two-Step Verification. Create a six-digit PIN. You will be asked to enter this PIN if you move your WhatsApp account to a new phone. And, don’t share your PIN or code with anyone.