Another day, another WhatsApp scam to talk about. And this one will leave certain fast foodies really fired up — we're talking Angry Whopper style.
Listen to our warning: if you see a promo for a discount coupon from Burger King, do not waste your time and do not click on it. Users will be asked to take a short survey that will give you false hope that you will get a large lump sum to go toward your next meal for cheap at the fast food joint. In reality, this is nothing more than a big fat lie to get people to sign up for random services.
The whopper of a scam comes in the form of a message that is sent by someone you know, either in a direct message or group chat. This makes it seem like a trusted friend is sending a legit coupon offer with good intentions.
For anyone who is no fool, the message seems a bit shady from the beginning. Then again, even the wisest people can be tricked from time to time. The message informs the user that they have a chance to win a coupon for a specific amount of money by clicking on a link, and it may even appear real because it seems to be offered by Burger King itself.
Once you click the link, you will be redirected to a page where you are asked to take a brief survey for your chance to win the Burger King cash. The survey features four questions related to the chain, such as, "How often do you visit Burger King?"
This scam uses the method called social engineering to get people to act on the offer before time runs out. It does so by saying there is only 150 of these coupons available.
After answering the questions, the user finds out that they are a lucky winner of the Burger King bucks. But first you are asked to share the message with either three WhatsApp groups or 10 friends. You only have 225 seconds to share before the offer expires. Thus, the scam has spread like a virus and is now in English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian in the app.
Because the message can be shared outside WhatsApp, it poses the threat of attacking Facebook or your friend's email.
After doing all this, the user is told they did not win after all and to try again. The scam then suggests other promotions that will try to hook you to sign up for a service you don't really need.
This Burger King scam appears to only work when opened in a mobile browser. The sneaky scammers added a line of code that prevents search engines from indexing the fake site so that it can go longer without being noticed.
It's not known for sure what the scammers are looking to get out of users with this fake Burger King survey, but all signs point to website clicks or helping the end promotions bait new people.
No matter how hungry you are, do not open this Burger King promotion in WhatsApp.
Source: We Live Security
Photo: Mike Mozart | Flickr
