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Tom Muleya-Fraud Insight
Some WhatsApp messages from a group member purporting to have foreign currency for exchange with Zimdollars and vice-versa are now common.
The WhatsApp cyber hackers usually invite their unsuspecting victims to come to their inbox. The inbox is now being abused and criminals are raking in thousands of United States dollars.
WhatsApp fraud is a new form of advance fee fraud that starts with mobile phone hacking. The frequency at which these fraudulent messages are sent to cellphones is worrisome and people must exercise extreme care to avoid falling victim.
Sometime in May 2021, victim Y saw a text message from a WhatsApp group member Z, a church mate, advertising that he was selling some US dollars.
Y was interested and in-boxed Z. The two discussed and agreed on the exchange rate. Y was given two bank accounts into which he transferred $120 000 and was supposed to get US$1 200.
Meanwhile, Y and Z had agreed to meet later, so that Y collects the foreign currency. Y went to the city centre and Z was no longer reachable and did not appear.
Y later contacted Z through a text message demanding his money back to which Z professed ignorance. Z told Y that his cellphone was stolen four days ago and had just made a SIM card replacement.
Y and Z later met and went to the police to make a report.
The above scenario is quite interesting.
But let me try to answer these questions; What happened? How did it happen? Why did it happen? What is the meaning of this? Could this have been avoided?
Y lost money to advance fee fraud.
But how was Y duped? Y responded to a fraudulent message that was purporting to be coming from a well-known church mate Z, yet in actual fact the real Z’s WhatsApp account had been manipulated.
The fraudster was using Z’s WhatsApp account to fleece church group members.
So, unknown to Y was that he was communicating with a fraudster.
Why this happened is simply because Y overlooked the issues of due diligence before transacting.
Technology while offering a lot of convenience in terms of communication, has serious vulnerabilities and is subject to manipulation by cyber fraudsters.
We noted in the above case that the real Z alleged that his cellphone had been stolen. Whenever your cellphone is stolen or lost, the service provider should be immediately advised and the matter be reported to the nearest police station.
This will safeguard both the person whose phone has been stolen and other group members.
The last question is; could this fraud have been prevented or avoided? I guess the answer is a big yes! Y should have considered the following prevention measures;
He should not have responded to the fraudulent message.
He should have conducted due diligence process, such as meeting Z personally. He should have made voice calls or even video calls for authentication.
He should not have merely based his decision on trust that Z was a church mate and therefore was incapable of defrauding him.
He should not have rushed to advance the money to Z before ascertaining if Z real had the money in question.
Z should have found a way to communicate to group members that his phone had been stolen.
For your feedback, WhatsApp line: 0772 764 043, or e-mail:[email protected]. Tom Muleya is a Detective Assistant Inspector working under the Criminal Investigations Department. Harare. He is also a member of the National Cyber Security Taskforce, Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter