WhatsApp already warns of dangerous links and spam
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We must be careful with everything we receive through WhatsApp, because as in life, everything is not gold that shines Just a few days ago we learned that the most popular messaging service in the world would pay people to discover hoaxes and scams. Today we have to tell you that WhatsApp is already able to notify you of dangerous and spam links that circulate around there.
This is a feature that will be present (for now) on smartphones with Android and that tries to detect if a link that you received has been previously marked as suspicious.
When we receive it in our application, we will see an indicator located at the top of the message, which reads 'Suspicious link' or, in the English version, 'Suspicious Link'. Something very similar to what we find when browsing Chrome and receive a warning about a page that does not comply with basic security precepts.
Dangerous links and spam alerts are now active
Users who want to test this feature and make sure they never click on a suspicious link ever again will need to upgrade to WhatsApp Beta or, if they already used it, update their Android phone to version 2.18.221, which is precisely the one that contains this feature.
To install WhatsApp Beta you have to go directly to this link and join the trial version. You will need to download the beta version of this application. If you are already using WhatsApp Beta and want to update the app, do the following:
1. Access the Google Play Store and go to the section My apps and games.
2. Within the Beta section, you will see that WhatsApp Messenger has a pending update. Hit the Update button. Wait for the new version to download and install. From now on you should start enjoying this feature.
If not, you can do something else: make a backup copy of your conversations, and then uninstall the app to reinstall it again. The functionality should be working as of now.
Warnings so you don't open the message
Actually, the only thing WhatsApp will do from now on is show you a warning to be very careful when opening the message Thus, when you receive this warning and click on the link to open it, a pop-up window will open in which a little more information will be added.
To the 'Suspicious link' warning a message will be added warning that the link in question contains strange characters and that it may be trying to appear to be another site that it is not. This way, phishing scams may be more accurately detected by the tool.
Be that as it may, you can open the link if you wish. You just have to click on Open link (Open link) to see the page in question. If you prefer to be cautious and follow WhatsApp instructions to the letter, all you have to do is click on the Go Back option.
If you are sure what type of link you are going to open, you can do it without problems. But be careful with what you receive and that is not entirely clear. Prevention is always better than cure and on this occasion, WhatsApp wanted to give us a second chance.
