{"id":126219,"date":"2016-06-28T12:29:21","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T10:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/126219\/dont-download-whatsapp-gold-its-a-scam\/"},"modified":"2016-06-28T12:45:34","modified_gmt":"2016-06-28T10:45:34","slug":"dont-download-whatsapp-gold-its-a-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/lifestyle-news\/entertainment-news\/2016\/06\/28\/dont-download-whatsapp-gold-its-a-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t download Whatsapp Gold, it\u2019s a scam!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some unscrupulous cybercriminals have tricked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">WhatAapp<\/a> users into downloading \u2018WhatsApp Gold\u2019, which infects their smartphones with <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Malware\" target=\"_blank\">malware<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>People reported receiving messages that prompted them to sign up for the \u201cexclusive\u201d version of the app. The message took them to the WhatsApp Gold website, where they entered their details.<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>Scammers claimed that the app&#8217;s extra features were previously only available to &#8220;big celebrities&#8221;. These include being able to send hundreds of pictures at once, new emojis, video calling, enhanced security features and more customization options.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2016\/06\/whatsappgold.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-112238\" src=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2016\/06\/whatsappgold.jpg\" alt=\"whatsappgold\" width=\"564\" height=\"424\" \/><\/a><\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>Once users download the program from the website it infects the phone with malware, scammers to steal your data and track movements and activity.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2016\/06\/whatsapp-gold.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-112239\" src=\"https:\/\/albertonrecord.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2016\/06\/whatsapp-gold.jpg\" alt=\"whatsapp-gold\" width=\"351\" height=\"387\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, any user who comes across this message or any similar scam, can report it to WhatsApp or block the user. WhatsApp Plus is another one of these recent scams which prompted WhatsApp to post this message on their website: &#8220;The developers of WhatsApp Plus have no relationship to WhatsApp, and we do not support WhatsApp Plus.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The company warns users that the scam software can pass private information &#8220;to third parties without your knowledge or authorisation&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/bigmiketwitts\/status\/747174088339234817<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A Golden <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/Scam?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Scam<\/a> Called <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/WhatsAppGold?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WhatsAppGold<\/a>! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7BWsNNp2TJ\">https:\/\/t.co\/7BWsNNp2TJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Cup Of Story (@Cup_Of_Story) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Cup_Of_Story\/status\/741291438684704768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 10, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Only install apps from Google Play or the app store and beware of any apps that sound too good to be true.<\/p>\n<div class=\"stream-item stream-item-below-post-content\">\n<div class='tenancy_slot tenancy_slot_1 jannah_ad' style='display: none;' data-query-id='710dcb04603e9b045d5ef3d8185b5d90'><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cybercriminals have been working overtime to try and scam people into downloading an unauthorized Whatsapp Gold, which contains malware to steal data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7783,"featured_media":126222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Caxton Central","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3686],"tags":[11517,6113,8781,11518,11519,11520,8075,11521],"class_list":["post-126219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment-news","category-lifestyle-news","tag-applications","tag-cybercrime","tag-data","tag-download","tag-malware","tag-smart","tag-whatsapp","tag-whatsapp-gold"],"amp_enabled":true,"category_labels":{"Category":"Lifestyle","SubCategory":"Entertainment"},"tag_labels":["applications","cybercrime","data","download","malware","smart","WhatsApp","Whatsapp Gold"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7783"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}