“Your subscription is ending soon” - another WhatsApp scam

Then Facebook, now WhatsApp

While recently fraudsters took the liking of the Facebook community as they bombarded with several amusing scams, now the time has come for WhatsApp. Felons have decided to make a profit out of the genuine but former WhatsApp subscription payment fact.^[1] Though the official company canceled the subscription in January last year, racketeers expect to fool unsuspecting netizens.

Sophisticated scams arise

What makes this deception to stand out is that hackers did a good job in devising quite a persuasive scam. The majority of them often fail to leave the impact as they contain obvious grammar mistakes or typos. Others mess up at the credential part.

In this case, the scammers passed all these two factors. Here is a short extract from the counterfeited email:

UPDATE YOUR PAYMENT INFORMATION
Our records indicate that your WhatsApp trial service is exceeding the one year period. At the completion of your trial period, your WhatsApp will no longer be able to send or receive the message. To continue using WhatsApp without interruption, we need you to subscribe for any of our subscription periods.

The key signifier of the scam is that since the beginning of 2016, WhatsApp service has remained completely free for all its community members. Unlike Facebook scams which frightened users with non-existing hackers^[2], the developers of the scam try to wheedle out confidential information, i.e. credit card details.

Felons keep fishing for credulous users

Due to the popularity and number of users worldwide, WhatsApp remains of the most popular targets for cyber criminals.
Besides this deception, fraudsters tested users’ gullibility with several other scams. For instance, you may have noticed offers to install WhatsApp Spy which was supposedly released by the official company to let you spy on other members of the service.^[3]

Other scams include fake WhatsApp Oro and Plus which try to attract gullible users by offering unlimited data transfer capacities or new features. Some of these scams either try to wheedle out sensitive private information or attempt to infect your friends through you.

Security tips

In order to determine whether it is a felony or not, check the official website of WhatsApp for any updates and news. Whether the company decides to charge or dismiss the fee or release any new version, it will definitely post the news there.

Furthermore, pay attention to any additional links and date of the message receipt. You may find the mismatch between the message and WhatsApp published news. In any case, when you receive any “urgent” message, behave oppositely. Evaluate the message, check the facts, and only then take the necessary action.