How to detect job scams on WhatsApp – 02/07/2024 – Market

The message, sent by a number from an unknown country and offering payment for an easy job, also arrived on David Guzmán’s WhatsApp.

As happened with thousands of people in Latin America, this type of message became constant. “I received messages several times from a number I don’t know, from China or the region,” Guzmán told BBC News Mundo, the BBC’s Spanish-language service.

“One day I thought ‘Well, why not give it a try?’. The message says they are inviting you to work on a platform in Wuhan, China, and mentions a social network similar to TikTok,” explains the 24-year-old.

The job consisted of “liking” the videos and sending a screenshot as proof. In return, you would receive a payment into your bank account.

“So I said, ‘It’s okay to give some likes, right? What’s the worst that could happen?'”

First, they gave the equivalent of around 6 dollars (about R$30) for completing “tasks” assigned to them by a person on the other end of the line, who used artificial Spanish, as if they had gone through an online translator.

“It’s very strange talking to them,” says Guzmán. They requested your bank account information to make payments.

“They sent me the first reward and told me that I was suitable for the job. They sent me a Telegram channel. And it wasn’t just me, but 500 participants. There are many groups and very large”, he recalls.

The report identified that attempted scams like this are also frequent in Brazil.

But then the work started to get weird. In addition to passing on two “likes” tasks, they asked for a third task — investing the money earned in a supposed cryptocurrency platform.

“I continued with the likes and in this scheme of things, they make you feel like you’re getting something like you’re working for it. I think that’s where the trick is, a mental boost for people who are working. Telegram is full of emojis and motivating messages”, he explains.

Then they asked him to enter the “next level of this work”, where he would have to invest more. They asked for almost US$60 (R$300) to enter. Guzmán says he had to borrow money from acquaintances to make the payment.

“You won!” they replied. But to receive his winnings, he had to “invest” another US$12 (R$60). By then, he had already sent almost US$70 (R$330).

“I sent them the money and it took about 3 minutes for them to respond. It seemed like an hour and I had lost the money,” recalls Guzmán.

But they sent about US$110 (R$550) to his account. “I had about 1,900 (pesos) in the account, I returned what I had borrowed and I was left with about 900.”

And he chose not to continue in his “job” or to reinvest the new values ​​that were indicated to him. “They insisted that I send at least half, in poorly translated Spanish,” he recalls.

The various scams

Guzmán’s experience is part of a series of scams circulating on platforms like WhatsApp.

In almost all of them, the first objective is for whoever receives the message to fall into the trap and respond.

Other types of scams include offering jobs at well-known companies, with very attractive salaries, with the aim of obtaining as much information about the person as possible.

This data can be used in two ways: one of them is identity theft, as scammers are able to obtain a lot of sensitive personal information that can be used to carry out financial transactions, such as applying for credit or accessing the victim’s bank account.

Another use of this data is to sell it to companies that use this metadata for advertising or marketing purposes.

“Before, you just had to click on the offer and take you to a fraudulent website, which pretended to be official, to steal your data. Now there are other stimuli”, explains cybersecurity specialist Verónica Becerra, from the company Offensive Hacking & Redes de Segurança .

“You do this and they actually give you money, but when you start to go up a level, a third level, they start charging so that you supposedly get more money. And that’s when the scam comes,” he adds.

Although not all victims hand over large amounts, cybercriminals take into account that they will obtain large amounts even if only part of the people agree to remain in the pyramid.

The implementation of new artificial intelligence tools has also generated new forms of scams.

When a WhatsApp user (or other platforms) answers a video call from an unknown number, their face can be recorded and used in a deepfake.

Through it, scammers can make it seem like the person is saying something they never said.

Cybercriminals may extort money from the victim’s contacts or fake urgency to ask for money.

“I heard about a case where, when answering a video call, someone showed a pornographic video, making it look like that person was watching it. And then they extorted them,” says Becerra.

How to avoid these scams?

According to the cybersecurity expert, WhatsApp is one of the most used means of these crimes, not because the platform itself has security vulnerabilities, but because it is the most used in the world with more than 2 billion users. And this means that there is a larger universe of possible victims.

However, a first point to avoid possible risks is to keep applications updated with the latest versions, as there may be new security settings.

Even more important is not to respond to unknown numbers, as with just a few questions they will try to obtain as much personal information as possible.

“They get enough data about you, like bank accounts, address, many things,” warns Becerra.

“What I’ve seen is that younger people don’t care if their information is stolen. On social media they even say ‘It doesn’t matter, because they’ve already given me a lot of money’. What they don’t know is the amount of money that can be obtained with some data”, he adds.

“Among older people, the problem changes to misinformation and little knowledge about this type of tool. That’s why cybercriminals take advantage of them.”

Companies typically do not approach job candidates through WhatsApp. Even less if the person has never applied for the position.

And if you actually applied for the position or are interested in one, it is advisable to call the companies directly to ask about official offers.

Serious companies do not use numbers with strange international prefixes or email accounts on mass services (Gmail, Outlook or others).

Another recommendation is to activate double verification for your WhatsApp account or other platforms, which prevents a scammer from trying to steal an account through identity theft. “It’s an additional layer of security for accessing your platform.”

Joshua Breckman, spokesperson for Meta (WhatsApp’s parent company), explains to the BBC that the end-to-end encryption of the platform’s chats does not allow the company to analyze the content of conversations to detect scams.

But it recommends reading a guide that WhatsApp prepared about scams and following the instructions to report suspicious numbers in this link.

“We have invested in marketing campaigns in Latin America in recent years to educate users on how to detect scams and give more visibility to the tools available in the app. These campaigns are broadcast on television, radio and press channels,” said Breckman.

Becerra also states that it is advisable not to have sensitive information in chats, such as photos of personal documents, service account passwords or personal data, as cybercriminals often seek this type of information in conversations.

And although it is important to have a backup of your history in the cloud, you must have strong passwords on these services (Google Drive, iCloud or others).

If the password is weak, scammers may also find the personal information of the victim they are looking for there.

And, if information theft has already occurred, it is also advisable to go to the police “to register, in case a serious crime occurs”, says Becerra.

“You should also avoid giving too much information in chats, even to contacts,” he adds.

“You’re not always sure who’s on the other side.”

This text was originally published here.