“Excuse me, who are you?” Don’t fall for over-friendly conversations on WhatsApp

“They usually buy a VoIP number (which is not allowed to be used on WhatsApp) and they may have different goals: a specific person or random people. When they find a valid phone number, they send a message.” which asks something like “Excuse me, who are you? I found you in my address book. They are always nice to you because they want to gain your trust,” noted WhatsApp tracker WABetaInfo.

“They start by asking for simple details, for example, what your name and job are and how old you are, and they offer some compliments for making you feel good,” he adds.

“This technology is very old but is still used today because it sometimes works,” the tracker says. Scammers will try to access your public information on Facebook and Instagram, such as your friends list and other interesting details that could help them steal your money.”

In fact, their next step is to blackmail you, saying that they share some confidential photos with your friends and family (real photos, if you shared them naively, or edited photos using Adobe Photoshop). Will share if you don’t send them money. But they won’t stop blackmailing you after getting the money, because they want more money.

Why do I want to share this story with you? Scammers can send messages to people in a harsh moment of psychological or emotional fragility and be able to fool them. You need to know what is behind the WhatsApp account.

You should always ignore unknown contacts and never share private information such as your personal social account. You can also report contacts to WhatsApp by their contact information, but you can also report specific messages. Also, be sure to set your profile photo’s privacy setting to “My Contacts.”