Beware of WhatsApp’s free 1,000GB data scam

Researchers at cybersecurity firm ESET recently received a text on WhatsApp which claimed that the app was giving away 1000 gigabytes of free data to celebrate its 10th anniversary, The fake campaign retraces to a domain which is populated by more fake offers made to look like they come from popular brands.

“What strikes us right off the bat here is that the URL that comes with the message is not an official WhatsApp domain,” the researchers said in a blog post.

While many businesses sometimes use third parties to run promotions, users must always check carefully for legitimate domain names, which again are made to look as close to the real domains as possible.

Following the link on such offers will lead you to pages where you would be required to fill a series of questions, some of which may be personal. You’d also be required to further share the link to a large number of people to be ‘eligible’ for the scheme.

These are mere ways to increase the campaign’s reach and such questions and links that encourage mass sharing for eligibility must always be double checked for scamming.