"Hey, could you lend me 500 euros for a bit? I'll pay you back by Monday." If you receive this or a similar message via WhatsApp, your first thought may be that a friend or colleague is experiencing a financial crunch. However, increasingly, scams are behind these kinds of requests.
The principle is simple yet insidious: The perpetrators hack a WhatsApp account or convincingly replicate it. They then specifically target the victim's contacts, often starting with a friendly and seemingly harmless message. Eventually, they follow up with a request for money, usually accompanied by a sense of urgency: "I need it by today; I'll explain later."
This scheme is particularly dangerous because it exploits existing relationships. When a message appears to come from a genuine contact, the threshold for lending money is significantly lower. Many victims report that they only realized something was amiss after making a call or inquiry. In some instances, money was even transferred before the scam was exposed.
Reports of such cases are increasing on platforms like Gutefrage.net. The scammers often use identical phrases, such as asking for 500 euros, supposedly to be repaid by Monday. This con is being executed on a large scale. WhatsApp has since responded to the rising number of these fraud cases, claiming that it has deleted millions of suspicious accounts over the past few months.
Nevertheless, caution remains vital: Anyone who receives an unusual request for money should always be skeptical - even if the message comes from a familiar name. A simple phone call can often provide immediate clarity. If in doubt, it is crucial not to act impulsively, as the scammers deliberately prey on emotional reactions and quick decisions. Therefore, it is important to stay calm and, when in doubt, ask for clarification one time too many rather than too few.