WhatsApp users are being targeted by a new scam that claims to offer a £100 voucher for Sainsbury's supermarkets.
The offer appears via a message, seemingly from one of the user's contacts, urging them to click on a malicious link to claim their voucher.
The message itself reads: "Hey, have you heard about this? Sainsburys its giving away £100 gift cards. They are expanding their store network and they launched this promotion. Grab a gift card while its lasts. I got mine already."
Aside from being an offence against spelling and grammar, the message contains a link that when clicked could allow scammers to steal personal information from the user, install cookies on the handset, or add an advert extension to the mobile browser.
The message is effectively a phishing scam being carried out through the popular messaging platform. As such, users have been advised to treat it like any other junk email or scam and not click the link.
It's also a good idea to delete the message itself, but if you want to protect yourself further, you could try installing security software, such as Avast or AVG Antivirus, which are available through the app stores.
On top of that, reporting the message to WhatsApp should help the company prevent future scams such as this from occuring.
You can do this directly through the app, if you've received the scam message. If you're on Android tap the menu button in the top-right then go to Settings>About and help>Contact Us.
For iPhone users, head to Settings>About and Help>Contact Us, and if there's anyone using a Windows Phone, it's More>Settings>About>Support.
Again, the best thing you can do if you've received the message is simply not to click on the link.
