The number of scams directed against individuals does not stop growing and, in addition, as experts warn, they are increasingly sophisticated. Now there is a new scam that is running like wildfire and that uses a fake artist on WhatsApp and Bizum as a hook to deceive the victims and steal 50 euros from them.
It has been the newspaper ‘Ideal’ that has warned of this new fraud. We are going to explain step by step what it consists of so that no one else falls into the trap.
How does it work?
You receive a WhatsApp message from a person who is on your contact list . Now, it’s not really being sent to you by that person, but by a hacker who has taken control of your phone. What he tells you in the message is that he has made you a Bizum of 50, but that it was addressed to an artist for a job.
Supposedly, the number of the artist in question is practically the same as yours except in one or two digits, so he was confused when sending the Bizum . At the same time, a conversation opens on WhatsApp with a number very similar to yours, claiming to be the artist.
Now comes the crux of the matter: the artist asks you that he does not want to get his 50 euros back for Bizum, but that what he needs is for you to make a transfer .
This is the main problem of deception: transfers are very complicated to cancel , and you will probably not get your money back. What you should do if you have fallen for the deception is to file a report and wait for it to prosper.
Prevention is key to avoiding scams like the fake artist on WhatsApp and Bizum . Never reply to unknown users and, of course, never send money without knowing who you are sending it to.
Bizum has become very popular in recent months, so scams through this platform are more and more frequent. A few months ago we learned of another fraud that used money request notifications to mislead victims into believing that they were receiving money rather than sending it.
