Police issue urgent warning as North Yorkshire residents fall victim to new scam

North Yorkshire Police say there have been a number of reports relating to a scam that steals access to a WhatsApp user's account.

The scam begins when a criminal gets access to another WhatsApp account which has you listed as a contact.

The criminal posing as your friend or someone that’s a member of a WhatsApp group you’re in, will then send you seemingly normal messages to try and start a conversation with you.

However, around the same time you will receive a text message from WhatsApp with a six-digit code and this is because the criminal has been trying to login to WhatsApp using your mobile number.

The criminal will then claim that they sent you their code by accident and ask you to help them by sending it to them.

Once the criminal has this code, they can then login to your WhatsApp account and lock you out.

The latest cases to be heard at Harrogate Magistrates Court between March 21 and March 23

The criminal will then use the same tactic with your WhatsApp contacts in an effort to steal more accounts and use them to perpetrate fraud.

North Yorkshire Police say to protect your account, you should set up two-step verification to give an extra layer of protection to your account

You can do this by going to Settings > Account > Two-step verification > Enable.

If a family member or friend makes an unusual request on WhatsApp, you should always call the person to confirm their identity.

Police are urging you to never share your account’s activation code (six-digit code you receive via SMS) and you should report any spam messages and block the sender within WhatsApp.

You can do this by pressing and holding on the message bubble, selecting ‘Report’ and then following the instructions.

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