New WhatsApp Scam: ‘Customer Service’ Is Targeting Your Bank Account – Scammed?!

WhatsApp is a popular medium, including among scammers, and it appears that criminals are posing as the chat service’s customer service representative. That way they try to get bank details or access your WhatsApp account.

The scam was brought to light by WABetaInfo, a WhatsApp news site. “Be careful if suspicious accounts message you on WhatsApp, they may pretend to be official customer service,” is the message.

Target: bank account or WhatsApp account

WABetaInfo writes that the criminals approach you with a fake account to try to get their hands on sensitive data. They do this, for example, with a threat that your account will be terminated if you do not take action, and then ask for credit card information. It is also possible that the scammers are after the six-digit verification code needed to enter someone’s account.

It should be clear: no matter what story they tell, WhatsApp never asks for bank details, verification codes or passwords for two-step verification. As soon as a “customer service” approaches you out of the blue and starts asking for sensitive information, you know you are dealing with a fake. Ignore the message and report the user.

This is how you recognize real customer service

It is also possible to get support via WhatsApp. The difference is that you have to open this chat yourself and will not be contacted. On the WhatsApp website you can read more about how to get in touch with customer service.

Have you opened a chat? Then the account is called ‘WhatsApp customer service’, with a green check next to the name. The fake customer services sometimes also used a check mark, but did so in the profile picture, for example. The image below shows what a legitimate chat with WhatsApp customer service looks like (source: AndroidWorld).

Source: WABetaInfo