Within a digital reality, fostered by the use of smart devices, social networksdigital platforms, augmented realities and artificial intelligence, users have been able to solve a large part of their daily lives during confinement, since it is through these tools that people work, study, entertain themselves and communicate.
However, given the imminent growth of active users on the network, the risks also increase, as is now the case with fake job offers WhatsApp, which could result in a scam attempt.
“Hello, I am the general manager of the Amazon project and I am currently hiring a part-time team.
You can work part time on your phone.
A part-time job takes 10-20 minutes!
Newcomers get 8,000 pesos immediately
Daily salary: 500,000~1,500,000 pesos
This job requires you to be at least 20 years old. If you are interested in knowing more details about the work, contact our team https://wa.me/573132013964″. This is how these WhatsApp messages usually start arriving from unknown numbers. As tempting as the offer may seem, it is a new type of scam.
Derived from the increase in digital needs within the new normality, according to We Are Social, Digital Report, there are within Latin America nationally, just over 465 million Internet users, a figure that places Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Peru in the top five Latin American countries with the largest number of Internet users.
However, the high number of active users within the network are at constant risk of being the victim of a digital fraud, since according to the most recent FortiGuard Labs report for Latin America and the Caribbean, countries such as Mexico suffered just over 80 billion attempts to cyber attacks only during the first quarter of 2022, a figure that reveals a higher cybersecurity risk by at least 50 percent compared to the previous year.
This motivated that it has led skinners and users to look for new and better tools to shield their personal information and reduce risks when surfing the net.
Job offers by WhatsApp, the new type of scam
WhatsApp has become the leading messaging platform on the market, with just over 2 billion users compared to 700 million for its rival Telegramwhich is why it is common for companies to seek to generate a contact through this platform to offer a job vacancy.
This action puts users at risk, since in recent days a new form of scam, which consists of receiving a job offer through this messaging application.
That is why it has begun to warn citizens, in case they receive an offer message about a job that was not applied for.
The Ministry of Public Security, through the Cyber Police Unit, alerted about a vacancy to be part of the team of amazon or some other company, under a “attractive” proposal which includes high salaries; however, it is an attempt to steal information and personal data.
According to what has been pointed out, the number from which the message comes is not verified, so it cannot be directly related to the company, since WhatsApp warns that people are communicating with a company when it comes to a profile. Businessso I know recommends be wary of any instances of unassociated numbers and overly-attractive offers.
Knowing the new forms of fraud that affect users, prevents and informs the community, an act that helps prevent and combat cybersecurity risks, necessary actions in an increasingly digital life.
