WhatsApp account hacked, purchases via mobile phone bill: police warn of fraud scheme
An eleven-year-old girl from Thuringia lost control of her WhatsApp account to fraudsters. The damage: several hundred euros on the mobile phone bill.
Eleven-year-old loses WhatsApp access – fraudsters make purchases at expense of ten-year-old
As Google News CH — Crime (de) reports, police are warning of a fraud scheme in which children are contacted via social media to divulge their phone numbers and confirmation codes – with expensive consequences for families.
In the summer of this year, an eleven-year-old in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district in Thuringia became a victim of this method, as reported by the MDR magazine Kripo live. An unknown person contacted the girl on a social media platform and asked to continue the conversation on WhatsApp. He asked for her phone number – and the girl gave it to him.
Shortly after, the eleven-year-old received a six-digit code via SMS. The perpetrator explained that he needed this code in order to create a WhatsApp profile.
"The girl found the explanation plausible and therefore sent the code to the unknown perpetrator," said Police Chief Inspector Anne-Kathrin Seifert of Suhl Police in the MDR magazine Kripo live. "With the phone number and the release code, the unknown perpetrator managed to transfer the girl's profile to a new device," she explained further. The girl thus lost complete access to her own account.
Hacked account as a tool for further fraud
Using the stolen profile, the perpetrator contacted a friend of the girl – a ten-year-old child. Since this child believed she was communicating with her friend, she also sent the fraudster a six-digit code that had been sent to her via SMS.
"The perpetrators then used this six-digit code to authorise purchases via the mobile phone bill," Seifert said.
Konstanz Police warned of the same scheme on Facebook at the same time, specifically addressing children and young people: "The codes sent are, for example, credit codes from sales platforms such as the Apple or PlayStation Store. If these are passed on, the fraudsters can use them to shop. The costs then end up on the victims' mobile phone bills."
The ten-year-old's family noticed the damage only when a thank-you message for the purchase arrived via SMS. The financial loss amounted to several hundred euros – to be borne by the parents, as the mobile phone contract is registered in their names.
The mother said in the MDR magazine Kripo live: "We have clear rules: don't write to strangers on social media, don't give out personal data. But in this case, she was apparently contacted by her friend. She didn't think anything was wrong."
Police issue protective recommendations
Seifert emphasised that the scheme does not only affect children who disregard rules. "Specifically for children, the point is that not everyone who writes to you is automatically a friend. Links from unknown persons should not be opened. Phone numbers or codes should not be passed on to strangers, and if there is any uncertainty, parents should definitely be consulted."
Police also point out that perpetrators frequently operate via fake or already hacked profiles in order to gain further trust – a mechanism that makes it particularly difficult for children and young people to detect fraudulent intent.
A six-digit SMS code should fundamentally never be passed on to anyone – regardless of how trustworthy the requesting person may seem.
Source: Google News CH — Crime (de)