WhatsApp has warned its users to be wary of the ongoing Amazon scam. A message would appear on the platform and ask the users to answer questions in a survey, and they are promised a high-end phone as soon as the survey is done.
However, this offer is too good to be true. The WhatsApp scam promises a Huawei Mate 40 Pro 5G to celebrate Amazon's 30th anniversary, but Amazon nor Huawei never released an official announcement about any promotion or prize.
Amazon WhatsApp scam
This type of scam is not something new. From time to time, these types of messages appear and ask users to share the link with the people in their WhatsApp contacts or asks users to click on a link and fill out the form with their information.
The link usually directs the user to a fake page that promises something incredible but is full of malware, and the user may risk contaminating their device or providing their personal information to hackers.
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Even though this type of modus operandi is not new, there are still many who fall for it, and Rumors.Org even made an article clarifying that the free Amazon gifts for WhatsApp users are a hoax.
The story itself is very poorly counted since Amazon is not even turning 30 this year as billionaire Jeff Bezos founded the company in 1994, and it is currently in its 27th year in 2021.
The text is also strange, as posted by Gadget Now, as it is filled with grammatical errors. Some sentences even seem to be in translation, which indicates that the scam is created in other countries.
Some of the information does not make sense, like the time that was initially one minute, and then it changes to 4 minutes and 7 seconds.
After that, a few questions appear on the screen, like the participant's gender and age and then whether they are satisfied with Amazon's service. The WhatsApp scam then goes to a roulette wheel that will allegedly raffle your prize.
Participants always end up falling on the tab of the Huawei Mate 40 Pro 5G Full Netcom 8GB + 256GB. After that, the scam will ask the user to share their contacts on WhatsApp so that they can get the alleged Amazon gift.
There is no such prize, and in the end. The user will be transferred to a website that is full of malware that can even cause the phone to crash. So it best to be careful and do not share these messages with other people.
In a statement, Amazon said that it did not send this message to WhatsApp users, thus confirming that the case is just a scam.
The company encourages its users to report this type of thing on its official website.
How to keep your WhatsApp account safe
According to the tweet of WABetaInfo, users of WhatsApp can protect their accounts through the two-step verification method that WhatsApp offers as soon as the app is installed.
Also, be sure to use only the official WhatsApp versions available on the Apple store, Play Store and TestFlight.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Sieeka Khan
