The worst WhatsApp fraud... Beware of opening a "very deceptive" message

The latest trick from cybercriminals is one of the worst so far as crooks maliciously resort to emotional blackmail

A new warning has been issued to WhatsApp users about a new scam that uses an "extremely deceptive" method to mislead users into handing over large sums of money.

WhatsApp scams are not a new occurrence, with users constantly being warned to be very careful about messages that could put their personal data at risk. But the latest trick of cybercriminals is considered one of the worst so far. Fraudsters resort to emotional blackmail in an attempt to get users to hand over large sums of money.

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To highlight the problem, one user, Allison, who was recently targeted, gave a full explanation of what happened to her in the hope that others would not be fooled. The scam began with a message that appeared on her phone claiming to be from her son.

The first message said, "Hi mom, I dropped my phone in the toilet. This is my new number."

Alison says she did what most parents would do, and she immediately replied asking if it was really her son, soon followed by a letter confirming it.

The next day, Alison's alleged "son" sent a letter asking for £2,600 (about $3,600) explaining that he needed to repay a particular loan. The deceived mother says she did not suspect the message for a moment, but tried to call what she thought was "her son" again on the number she got to make sure everything was okay. And every time she made the call, someone on the other end kept saying he couldn't talk and constantly pressing her to speed up the payment.

After she became more anxious, she agreed to pay. Fortunately, Alison says she forgot to click the final payment confirmation and then became even more skeptical after the fraudster requested a photo of proof of payment.

"This isn't the first time I've seen this kind of message, and it's very deceptive," Catherine Hart, chief executive officer of technology company CTSI, told the BBC. For the public, this is a particularly pernicious example.

"And when you receive a message like this, always be suspicious when it comes to money. Alison did the right thing by trying to call the number to verify, but as we can see, the scammers are so good at influencing quick actions, you almost lost money because of it."