A Saint Lucian has sounded the alarm after someone hacked his WhatsApp account, leaving him without access to the service.
Since Wednesday’s incident, the unfortunate victim whom we will call ‘Jayden Marius’ for easy reference, said his telephone contacts have been receiving requests from the hacker for ‘nira’, the currency Nigeria uses.
‘Marius’ recalled receiving a call from a relative’s number before the hack occurred.
He said the relative is part of a family group chat.
‘Marius’ told St. Lucia Times that he was preoccupied at the time he received the call and although he did not recognise the voice at the other end of the static-filled call, he assumed that the family member had asked someone else to contact him regarding a group call within an hour.
Having agreed to participate in the group chat, ‘Marius’ said the voice at the other end of the WhatsApp call forwarded a code, indicating it was for the proposed chat.
“It sounded suspicious, but I was preoccupied and I was trying to get rid of the call because I was doing other stuff,” the victim recalled.
He said he proposed looking at the code later, but the hacker urged him to do so immediately.
“Right there on the screen was a six-digit code. I said ‘Yes. I see the code.’ They said, ‘Tell me what it is.’ Again that sounded an alarm, but to get rid of the call because I am occupied and talking to somebody else, I just gave the person the six-digit code that was appearing on my screen,” ‘Marius’ told St. Lucia Times.
The consequences proved disastrous.
Having obtained the code, the hacker ended the conversation.
The victim said his WhatsApp account disappeared and a message requested that he register again.
‘Marius’ said he tried to re-register and re-install, to no avail.
Then on Wednesday evening, people were inundating his telephone with calls.
“They were calling me asking what’s wrong with my WhatsApp account. Somebody was messaging them asking them for seven hundred nira. Not somebody, but I was messaging them,” ‘Marius stated.
He said his contacts recognised there was a problem, because Saint Lucia does not use that currency.
But there was more.
‘Marius’ belongs to an organisation and asked a colleague to post in its group chat that someone had hacked his WhatsApp account.
“Because I am an administrator in that group, what the individual did was to remove the other administrator, change the settings in the group chat so that only administrators could message and deleted every message sent about the hacked account,” the victim lamented.
“So nobody was able to message. Nobody was able to receive the message and everybody else was just receiving messages from that individual asking for 700 nira,” he told St. Lucia Times.
“Every WhatsApp group in which I was administrator, the person did the same thing – removed every other administrator,” ‘Marius’ disclosed.
“It’s simple and it sounds like you are stupid to have accepted that, but you have to understand the personal thing with me and that family group chat. When the person called I remembered seeing a missed notification about a family group call in that same group chat. So I thought, ‘Okay, that sounds genuine,’ he said.
“We have family members from around the world,” ‘Marius’ stated.
Based on his experience, he has warned others to beware of people calling them on WhatsApp regarding a six-digit code.
“That code gives them access to your WhatsApp account,” ‘Marius’ said.
1. Do not click on links without verifying the sender, these links can redirect you to a malicious website.
2. Do not give personal or financial details over the phone.
3. Cybercriminals use URGENCY to trick their victims, slow down and analyze the situation.
4. Emails and phone calls stating that you owe money are usually scams.
5. Offers promising you quick riches are scams.
Stay informed, protect yourself.
IT’S ALWAYS A RED 🚩 ONCE IT’S NIGERIANS…YOU WERE TOO OCCUPIED!!!!
Next time hang up the phone…..
These Nigerians will not stop that nonsense. Thank you very much sir for the heads-up I will be paying closer attention to details from now. I am terribly sorry that this happened to you. I pray however that all works out and you are able to recover your account.
Hi everyone ! This happened to me three weeks ago, the caller called and ask me the same question, concerning the six digit code number I gave him and my watsapp disappeared, I had to wait seven days , ten hours to install watsapp again, my people be careful with these scammers out there, do not give anyone your no information about your watsapp account, he ask me to turn my phone off for one hour , if I had did what he said , he would have all the time to go through my accounts take all my money and personal information
It is impossible for someone to “hack” your phone by them simply calling and you answering. If however, you provide private information then you’re in trouble. To activate whatsapp account you need a code sent on install, usually via SMS to that phone number requesting it. It is theoretically possible for your number to be spoofed and the hacker can then redirect that code to that spoofed number but if that were the case they would not need to call you for any reason. That individual must have given out some private information that allowed the hack to happen.
The six digit code is whatsapp own 2-step verification. Once you give it out, the person simply changes it, which automatically shuts you out making your account inaccessible.
Nigerians are notorious scammers. Women be aware and of course men too.
lol back to the drawing board with whatsapp Elon Musk watch how they said that whatsapp is encrypted and all that jazz and someone still hacked the account. Nigerians are not to be trusted
Whew.. I thought it was a gf. Was worried for a bit there. Ok false alarm people, It is safe to continue cheating.
You sir in all your busyness gave access to your account. They well tell you when they send the code do not share!!!!
You must ensure that you are the only member with administrative privilege.
We too busy falling prey to petty nonsense. We send out and share any freeness we see. We staying in calls and chats with people talking about money we dont even know. If its too good to be true hang up the phone and goodbye. We too stupid and gullible. Many if us honestly dont deserve to even have a cellphone in their hand.
I got a call like this too. It was a male voice with a Nigerian accent but a St Lucian number asking me if I already rejoin the group. U asked what group he said the group there will be a meeting and we all must rejoined the group. I know I’m in several groups but he couldn’t tell me which group and I was busy and never have time for people I don’t recognize so I told him I don’t have time and goodbye and I ended the call and blocked the number. If you don’t recognize the number or the voice especially if the caller has a strange accent please end the call and block the number