NAPOLI (ITALPRESS) – In recent months a new and insidious form of cyber scam is spreading, exploiting the trust between WhatsApp instant messaging contacts and the apparent harmlessness of solidarity initiatives or online competitions. It is called “Ghost Pairing”. The Carabinieri of the Provincial Command of Naples are following the phenomenon carefully, collecting many complaints. “Hello! If it’s not a problem, could you vote for my grandson? It’s very little…”. Thus begins the message, which allows cybercriminals to take control of the victims’ WhatsApp Web account, with potentially serious consequences both on the economic and privacy level. The scam often begins with the reception of a message coming from a real contact – a friend, a relative or an acquaintance – that invites you to vote for a child or a young dancer within an alleged dance contest or cultural event. The message contains a link that refers to a graphically curated and seemingly legitimate web page, which recalls prestigious institutions and uses reassuring images. By clicking the “Vote” button, you are redirected to a popup where you are required to authenticate yourself via WhatsApp, with the pretext of avoiding invalid votes. By entering your phone number and then the verification code that appears on screen, the victim unknowingly allows scammers to open a WhatsApp Web session on a device controlled by criminals.
At that point the account is compromised: web criminals can read messages, impersonate the victim and send money requests to his contacts, often leveraging sudden urgencies, accidents or personal difficulties. With the same mode, the message-trap is then forwarded to other contacts, feeding a chain of digital contagion. In this context, the Carabinieri of the Cyber Investigation of the Provincial Command of Naples are daily engaged in web monitoring and messaging platforms, in order to counter these phenomena and identify more and more sophisticated deceptions that penetrate the daily life of people, exploiting their trust, affection and digital habits. Prevention and analysis work is accompanied by investigations aimed at identifying managers and protecting victims. These are the useful advice of the Carabinieri of the Cyber Investigation of the Provincial Command of Naples to defend themselves from the scams: It is recommended that citizens adopt some simple but fundamental precautions; Do not click on suspicious links received via messages, even if they come from known contacts; Difficult from voting requests, prizes or contests requiring access via WhatsApp; Never enter SMS or screen-represented verification codes on external sites or communicate them to third parties; Regularly check the ‘Linked Devices’ section in WhatsApp settings and delete unrecognized access; Enable verification in two steps to strengthen your account security; In case of doubt or suspected compromise, immediately notify your contacts and contact the Order Forces; Digital security also passes by awareness: recognizing the signs of a scam is the first step to defend themselves and protect themselves and others.
– photo screenshot video Carabinieri –
(ITALPRESS).
