Kota Kinabalu: The public has been urged to beware of a new scam tactic via WhatsApp.
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) chief publicity officer Simon Chin claimed that scammers hacked WhatsApp accounts and lured their victims with the promise of a generous commission.
“There is no such thing as a free lunch where one can earn a large commission without hard work,” he said in a statement, Friday.
Chin said he was recently added to a WhatsApp group named “YouTube-Support Program03”, and the administrator sent a message urging the members not to exit the group, followed by an introduction of himself and a purported programme with YouTube.
“The administrator claimed that one could earn money daily by following YouTube channels and that there were no fees involved.
“The administrator later shared a picture of the commission rate and bank-in slips to make the scam more convincing.”
The commission rate showed that one could earn a minimum of RM168 per day or RM5,000 monthly.
Sensing that something was amiss, Chin said he immediately called his friend, who informed him that his WhatsApp had been hacked.
“My friend could no longer access WhatsApp on his phone, while the hacker added all his contacts into the WhatsApp group.
“According to some of the victims, users would be added to a “Task Manager” platform and be assigned ‘jobs’ once they accepted the invitation to join the plan.
“The participants would then be requested to ‘like’ some YouTube channels and take screenshots to send to the ‘Manager’.
“Their accumulated income from their YouTube channel ‘likes’ will be displayed on a ‘Work Sheet’, but the users never received any money.
“Later, the users will be requested to invest or share their bank details to obtain revenue.
“After the users transfer the money or provide their bank details, the scammers will steal from their accounts, he said.
To this end, he said the public should thoroughly research the purported company, employer and recruitment officer if they receive a similar invitation.
“If they are added to the WhatsApp group by their ‘friend’, they should contact their friend personally to verify the matter.
“Do not simply disclose your bank details, and refrain from clicking on suspicious links or scanning QR codes,” he said.
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