Since the first case of a WhatsApp scam being reported to police, and the subsequent article that was published, police have not received another complaint of someone being duped by this scam.
The WhatsApp scam was doing the rounds in South Africa and also hit Ladysmith recently.
A 31-year-old resident reported to Ladysmith police that she had been the victim of what appeared to be a new type of scam involving WhatsApp messaging.
The woman received a message containing a WhatsApp access code. Shortly afterwards, she was phoned by a man who claimed to be from the WhatsApp company and he asked her for the code so that he could ensure that she would be able to access her WhatsApp with the new code.
Also read: New WhatsApp scam warning for SA
For two hours, her WhatsApp did not work and she soon realised why when friends started calling her to find out if she was all right. She was shocked to learn that they had received WhatsApp messages from her number, asking for money and airtime.
The messages claimed she was in trouble and could be arrested if she did not receive the money or airtime. Some of her friends paid money over and others paid for airtime.
While the complainant was reporting the matter to police, more of her friends were being targeted in this way.
Police still request the community to be vigilant of this scam, since historically scams do have a tendency to reappear again from time to time.
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