Warning issued by experts over new WhatsApp scam that hacks your phone | UK | News

Fraudsters pose as a contact from your phone book before hacking the device, experts say. Technology company Which? set up an alert in response to the “devious and dangerous” scam.

The scammers start by sending a convincing text message to your device containing a six-digit code and a link.

Then you receive a WhatsApp message from a friend asking for the code, however once sent, the hackers access your phone.

Alexis Conran, a Times Radio presenter, shared a warning about the scam on Twitter saying it “continues to catch people out.”

Posting a picture and a twitter thread, Mr Conran said: “Scam warning, this is a WhatsApp scam that continues to catch people out.

WhatsApp acknowledges this and sends a six-digit authorisation code to your mobile phone by SMS.

“The scammers now try and get you to forward it to them by pretending to be a friend of yours,” he said.

“If you send them the code, your WhatsApp will be hacked.”

Which? and Mr Alexis urged users to turn on two-step verification as protection.

They also suggested confirming whether the verification message is real by contacting the friend who sent the message without using WhatsApp.