When André told his friend Lucas (not his real name) that he had transferred R$1,320 to a hacker thinking he was sending the money to him, he heard jokes instead of words of comfort. Lucas, who had his account on a messaging app hacked, only became concerned after realizing that the laughter was not welcome. Three years later, their friendship still hasn’t recovered.
In May 2019, André Boniatti, 39, fell victim to his own generosity: he fell for the WhatsApp scam. André, who is a commercial manager, received messages from someone pretending to be Lucas, who was really going through family difficulties that caused him to have financial problems. “He had already done a raffle, we were all very supportive,” he says.
The paulistano initially did not realize that it was not his friend who was writing the messages. “It sounded like him writing, I didn’t even question it. He told me a little story and I thought ‘it’s very similar to him, it’s very similar to the situation’. He was experiencing personal difficulties, I didn’t want to question it.” André only noticed that there was something strange about the situation after he made the transfer: the person on the other side of the screen asked if he could transfer more money, this time to a second account.
Realizing that it was a scam, he tried to contact Lucas through other social networks. She then came across a message on her friend’s Facebook page. In it, Lucas explained that his WhatsApp account had been hacked. “He warned on Facebook, but not on Instagram. Directly, he only warned the family. Few people saw it,” he laments. The friend’s lack of concern for spreading the message did not please him, but it was what André understood as disdain that made him rethink the friendship.
“One of the comments [na publicação de Lucas no Facebook] it was from another person saying that he had made a transfer [para os criminosos]. His response was to call the person a muggle, to say that they shouldn’t have transferred any money. I thought it was insensitive of him, we were all helping and for him we shouldn’t have thought it was him, we shouldn’t have fallen [no golpe].”
In addition to André, two other acquaintances had made bank transfers (there was no PIX at the time). Despite conversations with the victims’ banks and a police report, none of those affected by the scam managed to recover the money. André and Lucas were not able to resume their friendship either.
“I got mad and blocked him on social media, then we lost touch. We were good friends, I was really upset. You already feel dizzy when you fall for a scam, when I saw he was making fun of me, I felt like a fool squared. All I wanted was to help. After that, we never saw each other again, even after I unlocked it and we added each other again [nas redes sociais].”
According to Serasa, to avoid this type of scam it is essential to contact the WhatsApp owner by phone before making any transfer or deposit. To do this, use the number you already have for the person and not the one that appears linked to the app, as criminals can change this number when hacking an account. To prevent your WhatsApp from being hacked, it is important for the user to enable 2-step confirmation and keep an active email to reset passwords and codes.
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