Amid the pandemic, scams have increased in the square. Several people are falling victim to scammers who have cloned WhatsApp numbers and are sending messages asking for money. This week, financial assistant Manuela Diniz received a message from a contact asking for a transfer, but it was not the person, it was the cloned number. She became suspicious and did not fall for the scam.
The same scam happened to plastic surgeon Jefferson Vaccari, who on the 6th of this month had the WhatsApp of his office cloned, where he attends his patients. "They put the office logo on the WhatsApp profile picture and started contacting some people asking them to make deposits into bank accounts," explains the plastic surgeon.
In addition, other doctors are falling victim in another way. Some of their photos are being used on other cell phone numbers, and these people are asking for transfers as if they were the professionals. Dermatologist Karina Mazzini has already gone through this situation twice in less than 15 days. “They take my photo from the internet and put it on another number and send messages asking for money. I have already filed a police report about the case,” explains Karina.
Lawyer Yago Andrade Motta advises that, first of all, anyone who experiences this problem should inform their closest contacts that they have fallen victim to a scam. Next, it is ideal to gather evidence to file a police report at the fraud department. “Take as evidence, for example, a printed sheet with screenshots that your friends or clients made of the conversation they had with the suspect who is impersonating you,” he says.
In the case of cloning, such as when scammers manage to obtain the WhatsApp activation code, it is possible to send an email to support@whatsapp.com with the subject/title along with your number, including area code and country code, for example, "stolen account / +5527 9999-9999". In the body of the email, you can simply write "please block the account of the number (from the title)."
“Keep in mind that the response to the email will be automatic and may ask you to resend an email confirming the blocking request. After a few minutes or hours of confirmation by WhatsApp support, you will be able to request an activation code again on your cell phone and regain control of your account,” explains the lawyer.
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