Beware of Fake WhatsApp Notifications!

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A fake WhatsApp notification email is doing the rounds on the Internet, tricking users into visiting a phishing website.

Beware of Fake WhatsApp Notifications_Phishing

Hackers are targeting Internet users with a fake WhatsApp notification email that pretends to be from WhatsApp. The email notifies the user about a new message and presents them with a ‘PLAY’ button, as shown in the image below.

WhatsApp phishing email

Our Analysis:
What happens if a user clicks the ‘Play’ Button?
Clicking the Play button redirects the user to a malicious page. The page displays three steps for the user to earn easy money:

WhatsApp phishing email_1

As you can notice, post registration the user is asked to make a deposit of £ 200 to activate their account. Once the deposit is made, the user is promised of earnings in their bank account.

Clearly, this is a clever phishing scam by hackers to trick WhatsApp users. We strongly advise users not to respond to such emails, and report/mark them as spam or phishing. During our analysis, we also found that clicking the ‘Play’ button drops a Trojan malware on the user system.

Important:
WhatsApp has clearly stated in its official page, “We do not send you emails about chats, voice messages, payment, changes, photos, or videos. You will only receive an email from WhatsApp if you initiate a conversation with us via our dedicated email channels, such as one of our support channels.”

Some Tips to Stay Away from Phishing Emails:
1. Do not respond to emails from unknown sources.
2. Verify the data on such emails before you act on them.
3. Never click buttons, links, or download attachments on such emails.
4. Be extra cautions of emails that promise you money for your personal or financial information.
5. Be cautious against unexpected emails.
6. Protect your system with Quick Heal Total Security that blocks malicious, fraud and phishing emails.

If you have come across any such fake WhatsApp notification emails, do let us know in the comments below. Stay safe!

Rajiv Singha

Rajiv Singha

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70 Comments

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  1. Avatar pankaj singh • February 10, 2015 at 2:27 PM

    Thnkx a lot to provide such information these help us to aware hrmfull effect of phn

    Reply
  2. Avatar jay sahu • February 10, 2015 at 5:33 PM

    Quick heal is super security but I need quick heal total security with apps lock (if anybody open any app with wrong pin or pattern 2 times, so quick heal take him/her picture from front camera) with anti theft alarm(if alarm is activate then device is move or charger unplug or off then alarm is on with full sound. ( my alarm tone in Hindi chor chor chor and police sairan. Please make it world no 1 security app .

    Reply
  3. Avatar Rahul thakur • February 10, 2015 at 5:54 PM

    Thanks, I know that money can`t be earned without doing hard work. But thanks a lot. Now I`ll take care that fake watsapp notifications might not win over my mind.

    Reply
  4. Avatar buddhadev xalxo • February 10, 2015 at 11:10 PM

    I can’t up to date my quick heal internet security.

    Reply
  6. Avatar Badagala Ramanamurty • February 11, 2015 at 6:20 AM

    good suggestion

    Reply
  7. Avatar Himanshu shivhare • February 11, 2015 at 7:45 AM

    A very helpful warning message, keep going on and help us in same manner in the future.

    Reply
  8. Avatar subham sharma • February 11, 2015 at 7:49 AM

    thanks to information

    Reply
  9. Avatar Nelli Narendra • February 11, 2015 at 8:15 AM

    Thanks for informing us about this new way of minting money by Hackers.

    Reply
  10. Avatar Swapnil Gaidhani , Lakhani • February 11, 2015 at 8:39 AM

    Dear Sir,
    Thanks for submitting important information for all users …

    Reply
  11. Avatar Abhinav • February 11, 2015 at 8:45 AM

    Thanks sir for the Warning and making alert

    Reply
  12. Avatar Navnit Patel • February 11, 2015 at 8:49 AM

    My Dear Sir Good And High Alert Masgae
    thank you so very much
    i ok

    Reply
  13. Avatar Ramesh C Sarin • February 11, 2015 at 9:06 AM

    Thank U for such useful information.

    Reply
  14. Avatar Sarvesh Kumar • February 11, 2015 at 9:40 AM

    Thanks A lot Sir. We trust on Quick Heal Total Security.

    Reply
  15. Avatar Puspa Joshi • February 11, 2015 at 9:58 AM

    Thank you Quick Heal authority for forwarding such a important news to customers. Hope to alert in future.

    Reply
  16. Avatar Sudhakar • February 11, 2015 at 10:26 AM

    thanking

    Reply
  17. Avatar Nitin Bhatt • February 11, 2015 at 12:13 PM

    thanks for updating

    Reply
  18. Avatar Ganiyu Adedokun • February 11, 2015 at 12:46 PM

    Thank you for this important information.

    Reply
  19. Avatar Rahul singh • February 11, 2015 at 1:51 PM

    thank You Quick Heal

    Reply
  20. Avatar Aravind • February 11, 2015 at 1:57 PM

    Thank you. …

    Reply
  21. Avatar sagar swain • February 11, 2015 at 2:07 PM

    Thanks for this alerts

    Reply
  23. Avatar Sumeet Tarasia • February 11, 2015 at 4:43 PM

    Thank you very much for informing about this dangerous trick of hackers. Keep it up!

    Reply
  24. Avatar Yes • February 11, 2015 at 5:24 PM

    Quick Heal

    Reply
  25. Avatar sandeep • February 11, 2015 at 5:39 PM

    thanx for this information

    Reply
  26. Avatar Dharmendra Gautam • February 11, 2015 at 7:53 PM

    Thanks, now I care.

    Reply
  27. Avatar Surajit Das • February 11, 2015 at 8:08 PM

    Nice.

    Reply
  28. Avatar NICE... 2... • February 11, 2015 at 8:10 PM

    NICE

    Reply
  29. Avatar amol • February 11, 2015 at 8:38 PM

    full pc proticshion

    Reply
  30. Avatar ADITYA • February 11, 2015 at 8:58 PM

    thank you

    Reply
  31. Avatar Vilas Borde • February 11, 2015 at 10:10 PM

    Thanks a lot for alerting customers.

    Reply
  32. Avatar HARIOM SINGH • February 11, 2015 at 10:26 PM

    THANKS TO INFORMATION ABOUT TECHNOLOGY WARMS.

    Reply
  33. Avatar D. V. SITARAMARAJU. • February 11, 2015 at 10:26 PM

    THANKS FOR USEFULL INFORMATION FOR WHATSUP USERS.

    Reply
  34. Avatar David • February 11, 2015 at 11:14 PM

    Thanks for info:

    Reply
  35. Avatar Narendra Choudhary • February 12, 2015 at 6:10 AM

    Thanks for the nice suggestions

    Reply
  36. Avatar Aman gajmer • February 12, 2015 at 7:28 AM

    Thank you so much fo informing us really thank u so much….

    Reply
  37. Avatar Aman gajmer • February 12, 2015 at 7:29 AM

    Thank u so much fot informing us realli thank u so much….

    Reply
  38. Avatar JAYPRAKASH KADEL • February 12, 2015 at 9:09 AM

    Thank for providing this type fake messages.

    Reply
  39. Avatar RK yadav • February 12, 2015 at 10:01 AM

    Good update will take and follow

    Reply
  40. Avatar Bikash Naik • February 12, 2015 at 12:03 PM

    good

    Reply
  41. Avatar VIJAYKUMAR • February 12, 2015 at 1:17 PM

    THATS NICE TO AWARE SUCH WE ALERT OUR CLIENT

    Reply
  42. Avatar Harbans Singh Tuteja • February 12, 2015 at 1:30 PM

    Thanks for making awareness of what is going on in this World for the sake of………………….

    Reply
  43. Avatar hamidreza • February 12, 2015 at 1:51 PM

    thanks

    Reply
  44. Avatar jean felix mukeba • February 12, 2015 at 2:21 PM

    the watsapp is good

    Reply
  45. Avatar Ryan Roy • February 12, 2015 at 5:10 PM

    Thanks so much Quick Heal for the alert.

    Reply
  46. Avatar unknown • February 12, 2015 at 5:28 PM

    Thanks for the tip

    Reply
  47. Avatar Ajit Kumar Chatterjee • February 12, 2015 at 7:15 PM

    Thank you for proving the notification. This should also be monitored from Quick Heal Internet Security E-mail protection.

    Reply
  48. Avatar Ravi Addi • February 12, 2015 at 8:04 PM

    Thanks for the vital information you posted.

    Reply
  49. Avatar sowmya • February 12, 2015 at 8:21 PM

    Thanx a lot 4 ur information

    Reply
  50. Avatar NIKHILBHAI indravadan dhebar • February 12, 2015 at 10:41 PM

    Thanks for the information.

    Reply
  51. Avatar gautam borkar • February 12, 2015 at 10:45 PM

    Thank ….by qhiel opretar

    Reply
  52. Avatar nitai rupini • February 13, 2015 at 12:37 AM

    I think its excellent app ever

    Reply
  53. Avatar nitai rupini • February 13, 2015 at 12:39 AM

    Best app ever

    Reply
  54. Avatar shiva raikwar • February 13, 2015 at 12:45 AM

    Thanks sir for the Warning and making alert…..

    Reply
  55. Avatar gl bhasin • February 13, 2015 at 7:08 AM

    quick heal is doing a great job protecting our machines. kudos

    Reply
  56. Avatar Md Shafique Zia • February 14, 2015 at 1:47 AM

    Thanks To warn me to do like this. Now I’ll Be Careful form these type notification or other messages.

    Reply
  57. Avatar Abhay • February 14, 2015 at 8:18 AM

    Thank ….by qhiel opretar

    Reply
  58. Avatar BABBOO CHAUHAN • February 16, 2015 at 6:32 PM

    mera antivirus itna jaldi out of date kyon ho gaya. mera jaldi update kare

    Reply
    • Rahul Thadani Rahul Thadani • February 18, 2015 at 12:10 PM

      Hi Babboo,

      When you open the Quick Heal dashboard, there will be an option to update your virus database. These are updated on a daily basis from our global virus signature database. Furthermore, if your license period has expired, then you will need to renew that license in order to continue to receive these latest virus signature updates.

      Thanks.

      Reply
  59. Avatar vikash meena • February 18, 2015 at 2:28 PM

    I like it

    Reply
  60. Avatar Akshay Nandire • February 22, 2015 at 6:55 AM

    Thanx

    Reply
  61. Avatar sakshi bagwari • February 26, 2015 at 2:07 PM

    Thnx

    Reply
  62. Avatar ujjal paul • February 27, 2015 at 6:39 PM

    Thank you. R

    Reply
  63. Avatar sethuraman • March 2, 2015 at 9:02 PM

    This is very useful to secure my device.
    Thank you.

    Reply
  64. Avatar Vishal Lalwani • March 4, 2015 at 11:37 PM

    Thank you for sharing with me this important message.

    Reply
  65. Avatar Steve • March 26, 2015 at 9:52 PM

    just got an email to my gmail account saying someone I knew had sent me a whatsapp message and invited me to read it. I clicked play and I was asked for my google password, which I entered foolishly. A bbc news page then opened with an advert claiming to be from the bbc health pages on the benefits of garcinia diet pill. I closed it immediately.

    Reply
  66. Avatar nisha prasad • May 5, 2015 at 12:36 AM

    Thanks for alerting for fake messages.Quick heal is best.

    Reply

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