Did you receive this WhatsApp message? One click could let scammers steal your data

A WhatsApp message asking users to vote for a girl named Nikolina is being used to take over accounts, according to the Croatian report. The message says the vote could help her win a scholarship and includes a link.

The scam is particularly deceptive because it may arrive from a familiar contact rather than a fake number. That usually means the sender’s account has already been compromised. The link leads to a fake voting page, followed by instructions claiming that WhatsApp authentication is needed to complete the vote.

After the victim enters a phone number, WhatsApp generates a one-time code for linking the account to a new device. The fraudulent page then tells the victim to enter that code in WhatsApp’s linked-devices option. By doing so, the user gives the attacker access to contacts and conversations and allows the attacker to send or delete messages in the victim’s name.

Security experts at Kaspersky warn that attackers may then contact the victim’s friends and relatives and ask them for money. Anyone who entered such a code should open WhatsApp Settings, select Linked Devices, and disconnect any device or browser they do not recognise. Users should also verify unexpected voting links with the contact who sent them and never enter one-time codes into a web page.