Caution: International Women's Day is used as a scam on WhatsApp

Today is March 08th, the International Women's Day. Undoubtedly it is a very important date that reinforces the importance of women in society (and which is also used to sell many roses). However, cybercriminals are using the date as a way to scam thousands of people. And, as usual, they are using the WhatsApp for this.

We have already published it here on showmetech various news about scams on WhatsApp, such as the 14th salary scam, the blow of fake coupon from O Boticário, the blow of nespresso coffee and even from new functions in the messaging app. Now we have one more virtual scam to add to the list: that of Woman's Day!

Again, who discovered the coup was the Kaspersky Lab, which develops the antivirus solution Kaspersky. The scam, this time, promises a free makeup kit as bait to lure victims. The goal is to get user data and earn money by displaying advertisements on a fake page.

The scam works as follows: the user is tricked into clicking on a link in the message that, supposedly, will take you to a page that will give you the makeup kit. On this page the user must answer three questions and then share the page with all friends and groups. Thus, cybercriminals will earn more money by displaying ads on the page.

In addition, the fake page even suggests installing malicious apps, which can monitor your mobile activities and generate an even greater financial return for criminals. Not to mention that they may have access to a variety of sensitive data, such as email addresses and passwords. The blow, in addition to coming through the WhatsApp, is also sent via browser notifications.

This striking method is very similar to the ones used previously. For example, a few weeks ago, cybercriminals took advantage of a real promotion from O Boticário, created a page just like the official one and went out sending messages to all the numbers they had previously obtained. In these cases, of course, it is much more difficult to distinguish a scam from an actual promotion.

What to do then? The suggestion is always to check on the companies' official websites if there is really any promotion for WhatsApp. It is also valid to call the company's SAC in order to confirm the information. Never trust links sent by friends or Facebook ads, as they are much more likely to be fake.

Therefore, in this Woman's Day, pay particular attention to the WhatsApp and remember: when alms are too much, the saint is suspicious.