WhatsApp Message from Your 'Friends' Offering Discount Vouchers: Scam

Story:

Forward this message to your 10 WhatsApp contacts and redeem £5 discount offer from Starbucks (or Zara, KFC or others). < link >

Picture about WhatsApp Message from Your 'Friends' Offering Discount Vouchers — WhatsApp Message from Your ‘Friends’ Offering Discount Vouchers

Analysis:

Various messages, sometimes simply with links seen on the popular messaging service WhatsApp claim to offer the user with discounts, rewards or gifts as in some kind of promotion coming from popular food outlets like Starbucks, Zara, KFC or others. To redeem the offer/voucher, the user is asked to follow a link that comes with the message and also forward the message to his 10 or more WhatsApp contacts. No, the claims are not facts; the messages are hoaxes and scams coming from fraudsters.

The new WhatsApp scam spread throughout the world targets users with messages containing links integrated into a current conversation loop. Because it appears to have come from your friend, the message and the claim look more genuine. Unsuspecting users who click the links are taken to a discount page mimicking the official website of the food outlet (Starbucks, KFC or others), where they are asked for personal details. Apart from that the user is left with malware on their phone, which can then be used to steal their identity or access confidential information like banking details. Principal security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, David Emm explained the same on This is Money website thisismoney.co.uk, saying the campaign is for scamming and installing malware on the phone. He also mentioned that some such WhatsApp spam campaigns try to sell items such as ingenuine handbags and sunglasses, investment scams and pornography.

Similar WhatsApp Scam in 2015

In mid-to-late 2015 as well, some WhatsApp users were receiving links sent by their contacts that pointed to some kind of survey sponsored by well-known supermarket companies from various countries. Those scams again stole personal data and also came with false offers to mislead and steal money from the user. Note that the WhatsApp scam actively circling for some time comes in several languages. Starbucks Malaysia mentioned one such (false) promotion on their Facebook page and asked users not to fall for the scam:

So if you come across such WhatsApp scam be careful not to click any links that come with the message, and do not forward it to others.