In this case, the scammers didn’t bother themselves in translating the message for other non-English speaking countries. Of course, the vouchers were adapted to the local currency. For example, last week we observed a new scam campaign using the same strategy but this time claiming to be Starbucks. It seems that this initial campaign was quite profitable for the scammers because, since then, we have seen similar cases materialize (at least a new one every week). However, in addition to this, it’s also possible that the scammers will try and lure the victim into subscribing to a premium SMS service that will cost him or her money. To benefit from this deal, the user needs to register their personal data, including their name, email, mobile phone number, address and so forth.Īll this data is then collected and subsequently used in spam campaigns. Some WhatsApp users receive a message with a link that redirects them to a fake website that is mimicking the supermarket in question, promising then voucher of a certain worth. The way in which the scam works is relatively simple. Some of the supermarkets used to this effect included Lidl in Italy, 7-Eleven in the US, Albert Heijn in the Netherlands and Woolworths in Australia. Thanks to the guys at Hispasec, we now know that these examples were not isolated cases and that the individuals behind the scams were effective in impersonating these brands (and gain the confidence of users). Below you can see two examples of this scam, one for Coles Supermarket (Australia) and another for Mercadona (Spain).

It was mid-August when we first observed that people were receiving links sent by their WhatsApp contacts that pointed to some kind of survey that was sponsored by a well-known supermarket brand from numerous countries. This is not the first time that we have seen users receive these kinds of vouchers but, on analysis of this recent flurry of activity, we can be almost certain that, this time, we are talking about an organized scam campaign that is operating on a global scale. Over the last few weeks we’ve seen an increase in fake vouchers – purporting to be from different shops – being spread throughout the world via WhatsApp.

This scam has all the hallmarks of a global campaign. Over the last few weeks we’ve seen an increase in fake vouchers being spread via WhatsApp.

What is whatsapp used for scamming