Online Threat Alerts (OTA) - Alerting you to scams and frauds.

WhatsApp Scam - "Hey, I Am Inviting You to Try WhatsApp Calling Click Here To Activate Now"
WhatsApp Scam - Hey, I Am Inviting You to Try WhatsApp Calling Click Here To Activate Now

If you have received the following message: "Hey, I am inviting you to try WhatsApp Calling click here to activate now," please do not click on it or follow the instructions that came with the message. The message was not sent by WhatsApp. It was instead sent by cyber-criminals, who are attempting to trick WhatsApp users into completing surveys, downloading malicious computer programs (virus, Trojan horse) and inviting their friends to share the same scam, which will help spread it to thousands of WhatsApp users.

The scam will take WhatsApp users to the following fake WhatsApp website:

  • www.whatsappcl.com

What is WhatsApp Calling?

“WhatsApp Calling” is a new feature that will be launched later this year, which will allow users to make phone calls to each other, family and friends over the internet for free. The new version of WhatsApp with the “WhatsApp Calling” feature is currently only an invite-only that is available in beta, and WhatsApp has been giving a few WhatsApp users invitations to test the new feature.

So, this is the reason why cyber-criminals have started sending out the fake “WhatsApp Calling” invitational messages, because they know that WhatsApp users are anxiously waiting for the new feature, and will quickly click on a link or follow instructions in a message in order to try out the new feature.

Now, in order not to become a victim of the “WhatsApp Calling” scam, please ensure that any link that you click on in a WhatsApp invitational message, goes to www.whatsapp.com, or just wait until WhatsApp officially releases the new version of WhatsApp with the calling feature.

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