Have you received a text message from a stranger asking if you were getting their messages from WhatsApp? Don't answer, it's a fraud And the fact is that the fame of WhatsApp is being used again to try to deceive mobile phone users and get them to fall for a telephone fraud, as verified by the consumer organization FACUAA fraud that has already been denounced and that seems to have proliferated lately among a large number of users.
The event occurs when the user receives a text message or SMS from an unknown person. It urges you to contact that person using a phone number after several alleged attempts to communicate by “wasap” without success. This is the message used: I am writing to you by wasap. Tell me if you get my messages. Did you add me the other day? Some variations of these messages even refer to sending images to try to get the user's attention and get a response through the phone number: It will be a failure of my mobile with the wassap. Xp I can't stop sending you the photo! Have you seen her? I thought I could add you to face or wassap. Or see you in smsduo What do I do?
However, the sender is a number 25568 and, as he has discovered, FACUA , belongs to the company Iebolina Tradicional SLWhen answering you incur high billing expenses that can exceed two euros for each message sent, since it is a Premium SMS service A hoax that has already been reported to the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and for the Information Society
In addition, this fraud has also been reported to different consumer authorities in some autonomous communities, as reported by FACUA, because it is believed that may incur in a misleading fraud And it contains false information that can mislead the user, as stated in article fifth of the Law 3/1991, of January 10, on Unfair Competition
In the face of such fraud, the best option is to delete the message and avoid answering to unknown phone numbers.In addition, the user can contact their operator to block telephone numbers and Premium messaging services, thus avoiding any type of fraud or involuntary additional cost.
This is not the first case in which the name of the messaging application WhatsApp has been used to try to carry out a fraud. And the fact is that the fame of this tool, which is already used by more than 400 million users around the world, is also used unethically for personal gain . Whether using an apparently innocent text message to capture the user, or even proposing a version of WhatsApp for desktop in which it is necessary to offer the telephone number to be able to use it and that, finally ends up incurring in a telephone fraud In any of these cases it is It is advisable to use common sense and be wary of unknown recipients.
Photos: FACUA
