A new scam is making rounds on the popular multiplatform messaging platform WhatsApp. There are reports of a hacker gaining access to your friend's account and sending you personal messages. It is used as a method of then accessing your account.

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Popular platforms like WhatsApp have often fallen prey to manipulations and these can be harmful to their millions of users. This global application is susceptible to many such attacks which can invade your privacy and scam you.

The OTP tricks have become popular recently to gain illegal access to the users' accounts and collect personal data, especially on WhatsApp.

Here is all that you need to know about the recent OTP scam on WhatsApp:

This scam works through manipulation. To begin with, a user receives a message from the hacker claiming to be their friend.

Through repeated assurance of being your friend, the hacker would tell you of an emergency to grab your attention and through their fraudulent means, they would ask you to share an OTP. They would say that it was an accidental forward to you. The hacker reportedly would send multiple messages to make you share the OTP.

It is a way for the hacker to gain access to your WhatsApp account. As soon as you share your OTP, you get locked out of your account and the hacker gains access to your messages, photos, groups, and contacts.

The hacker would then message your contacts and may even request monetary help from them. This leads to a chain of events that goes on after the hacker gains access to one account.

To safeguard from this scam, the user can enable two-factor authentication on WhatsApp. In addition, it is better not to share OTP or any other private information with anyone via WhatsApp. If you get a strange message from a contact, verify its authenticity first before replying.