Hong Kong police said they received more than 150 WhatsApp account hijacking scam reports over the past two weeks, with total losses exceeding HK$15 million. In one recent case, an employee at a local company engaged in virtual currency exchange had an account compromised. Scammers then blocked the original work group, blacklisted its members, and created a fake group by copying the group photo, name, members, and profile images. Posing as a client representative, they asked for a currency exchange transaction. The victim followed usual procedure and first sent cryptocurrency to a wallet designated by the fraudsters. The scam was only discovered after the company found the client account had an insufficient balance and called to verify the transaction. The company lost more than HK$4 million. Police said WhatsApp groups can be forged, but member phone numbers cannot exactly match those in a real group, and message timestamps also cannot be replicated. Authorities advised users to enable two-factor authentication, verify counterparties by phone before making transfers, and avoid logging into accounts on public WiFi or public computers.
Hong Kong police said they received more than 150 reports of WhatsApp account hijacking scams over the past two weeks, with total losses exceeding HK$15 million.
In a recent case, an employee at a local company involved in virtual currency exchange had an account hijacked. The scammers blocked the original work group and blacklisted its members, then built a fake group by copying the group photo, group name, members, and profile images. They posed as a client representative and requested an exchange transaction.
The victim transferred cryptocurrency to a wallet designated by the fraudsters as part of the usual process. The scam was uncovered only after the company found that the client account had an insufficient balance and called to verify the situation. The company lost more than HK$4 million.
Police said WhatsApp groups can be faked, but member phone numbers cannot be made exactly the same as those in the real group, and message posting times also cannot be duplicated. They advised users to enable two-factor authentication, confirm counterparties by phone before sending funds, and avoid logging into accounts through public WiFi or on public computers.
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