SLCERT warns WhatsApp users against sharing OTPs to prevent hacking

Colombo, October 28 (Daily Mirror) - The Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (SLCERT) warned WhatsApp users today not to share any one-time password (OTP) with third parties, as their accounts are at risk of being hacked.

SLCERT Senior Information Security Engineer Charuka Damunupola said that so far three incidents have been reported to the team regarding the hacking of WhatsApp accounts.

"A message could be received from a known contact in the WhatsApp contact list claiming to have sent an OTP number and that a link (code) would be received requesting to join a zoom meeting claimed to be a religious discussion," he said. 

"Once receiving the OTP by the requested party, the WhatsApp account will no longer be active for the original user. Then the same process will be continued using the hacked account contacts and they will claim money to restore the account," he said.

Therefore, Security Engineer Damunupola requested WhatsApp users not to share any received OTPs with other parties to prevent their accounts from getting hacked.

Meanwhile, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) member Mujibur Rahman filed a complaint today with the Criminal Investigations Department’s (CID) cybercrimes unit regarding the hacking of his WhatsApp account and an online financial scam targeting his close associates.