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The verification method used by WhatsApp is very simple: a user just has to go settings and type in a six-digit PIN number. Of the 84.1 million internet users in Mexico, 75% use WhatsApp to stay in touch with family and friends, according to data from Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute, but fewer than 20% use two-step verification to prevent hackers from accessing their account. “Fortunately, none of my contacts made the deposit they were asking for, pretending that I was asking them to do it because they were going to repossess ,” he says. In the course of just a few moments, Daniel Trejo became the victim of several crimes: identity theft, attempted extortion of his contacts and also the removal of 2,000 pesos (around $100) from his bank account. “Many people share very sensitive information, and in a very short space of time the victim has lost control of their accounts,” says Bestuzhev.
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The user will find their services cut off for a few minutes, which is sufficient time for a hacker to take control of the messages the user will have received and any archives shared on the network. To carry out SIM swapping, only a phone number is needed. All a criminal needs is our phone number to set the process of identity theft and extortion in motion,” Bestuzhev explains. In order to carry out this cloning, thieves make use of a mechanism that is available on the dark web for around $200, or even with inside help from corrupt employees at cell phone companies who cut off the user’s service.ĭmitry Bestuzhev, director of research and analysis for Latin America at cybersecurity company Kaspersky, says that an increase of 120% in the theft of accounts has been detected over the past 12 months, as well as in the distribution of phishing and ransomware via instant messaging applications, with WhatsApp being the most popular. Trejo had become the latest victim of a scam known as SIM swapping, whereby a phone number is cloned and used by identity thieves by assigning it to a new SIM card, after which they are able to access passwords and empty bank accounts.
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“She asked me if my house was going to be repossessed, that she had received a message from my number asking for money,” he says. Daniel Trejo had no idea his WhatsApp account has been hacked until he received a call from his mother.