September 2, 2020
Have you seen a message on WhatsApp or Facebook offering you free help during the pandemic? People have reported seeing messages that seem to be from Pepsi, Walmart, Whole Foods, Target, and other big-name brands. These messages all offer money to people who need it — through grants, coupons for food support, or other giveaways. But they’re all fake, and not from those companies at all.
So: what do you do if you get one of these messages?
- Don’t click on any links. That could download malware, expose you to even more scams, or add your phone number to lists sold to still other scammers.
- Delete the messages – and certainly don’t share them.
- Call the friend who shared the message. Did they forward it to you? If not, tell them their account might have been hacked. If so, share this blog post with them.
If you already clicked or shared, run a security scan on your device to look for malware. And then share this blog post with the friends you forwarded the message to – and ask them to do the same.
Read the full article here.