A woman’s WhatsApp account was allegedly hijacked after she opened a file sent by a familiar contact, resulting in more than 10 people receiving messages asking for a $1,000 loan.
Ms Chen (transliterated), 50, said she received a WhatsApp message from a supplier she knew at about 11am on Oct 27. The sender asked the accounts assistant to open a compressed file.
As the two had worked together before and often exchanged accounting documents, Chen did not suspect anything amiss and clicked on the file.
However, she could not see any content after opening it.
‘Didn’t think much of it’
“I was using my company computer. After clicking on it, I couldn’t see anything. I told the other party about it, but didn’t think much more of it,” she told Shin Min Daily News.
Scroll to continue reading
Chen recalled that strange text and programmes suddenly appeared on her computer screen, with processes seemingly running on their own. She did not realise at the time that her computer might have been compromised.
It was only that evening that she became suspicious after her boss asked whether she had borrowed money from anyone.
Chen then discovered that someone had apparently taken over her WhatsApp account and sent messages to her friends, relatives and colleagues, asking each of them to lend $1,000.
Read Full Article At Source
