Muscat : Oman CERT has warned of a number of cases related to hacking of WhatsApp accounts in the country. A statement from the authority said, "There has been an increasing number of WhatsApp account compromise reports using social engineering techniques to get verification code from the victims. The compromised accounts are used to impersonate the account owner and request money transfer from victim’s contact list."
Oman CERT has recommended the following steps to prevent such incidents:
1. Do not disclose or send the verification code to anyone.
2. Do not open links that arrive via text messages that contain a verification code.
3. Enable 2-step verification in settings.
4 - Never respond to messages received through WhatsApp requesting the transfer of funds even if the sender in your contact.
5 - If your WhatsApp has been compromised, inform the contact list about it immediately.
Oman CERT explained the procedures for recovering WhatsApp account in case of hacking:
A. Reinstall the WhatsApp application
2. Enter the phone number and wait for the verification code.
3. When your requested to enter the 2-step verification number, click "Forgot PIN".
4 - You'll see a message explaining that WhatsApp will be suspended for 7 days.
5. If the message does not appear, click contact support on the same page, and then type:
(My WhatsApp account has been hacked Please suspend my account number: (9XXXXXXX).
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