These WhatsApp accounts can steal your personal and banking details, here’s how to stay safe

A new WhatsApp scam that can steal your personal information is reportedly under circulation. As per a report by WABetaInfo, with the scam, fraudsters can access your personal and financial information, including bank and card details, by using fake support accounts. These fake accounts can be used to extract information from you. Although it is not yet known when the scam was first reported, a Discord user shimon128 was reportedly reached out by one of these fake accounts.
How the fake support account scam on WhatsApp works
Fraudsters first create a fake WhatsApp Support account that looks similar to the original one. As per the report, these accounts try to look authentic by using a particular profile image with a verified badge.
The report suggests that these fake accounts try to extract some private information from you by warning of account termination. For example, these accounts will ask details of your bank cards to avoid termination of your WhatsApp account. The accounts sometimes also ask for the 6-digit PIN to access your WhatsApp account.
How to protect yourself against fake WhatsApp Support account scam
First of all, you should keep in mind that WhatApp never asks for your bank details, 6-digit PIN or any other personal information to avoid account termination. If someone is trying to extract any information on behalf of WhatApp, you should know that it is a fake account.
You should also know that the verified badge on the original WhatsApp Support account is placed next to the account name and not in the profile picture. If you ever receive any message from a fake WhatsApp Support account, you should report it immediately by going to the chat info section. The last 5 messages in the chat will be shared with WhatsApp moderation team who will suspend the account based on context of the conversation.