Hacked Whatsapp Group

[MullumMiss]

Has anyone been in a whatsapp group that has been hacked or with unrelated members?  

I’m in a couple of congregation related ones for Field Service Group and Pioneers.  Never ever had an issue with those from both congregations I’ve been in.

In addition I am also in 2 other groups.  One for Garden Care at the hall and the other a Sister’s Social group.  Last week there was concerns within both groups that we could have been hacked into by unrelated persons.  So I looked into both groups and noticed that with the Garden Care group Admin had entered a particular number at some stage.  Turned out this was the “hacker”.  Admin then removed the number and reported it to Whatsapp.  However, and its a big However, the “hacker” was the innocent one.  Our admin had typed in a number for one of our sisters but he got the last 3 digits wrong.  Instead of 345 he typed 354.  So the person who owned the number ending in 354 was innocently added to this strange group called Garden Care.😂😂😂😂Anyways turns out it was some fellow and he must have looked through the group and started messaging one of our sisters who immediately assumed he was a “hacker”.  Similar thing with incorrect typing of last 3 digits happen with our Social group.  Though the owner of the number on our social group must not have been too bothered because he never interacted.  He probably never looks at Whatsapp. 

Anyways I would be interested to hear others experiences.

[Brandon]

WhatsApp is making phone numbers optional, and users will be able to make their phone number hidden to everyone they message. They are replacing the phone number with a username (telegram and signal already did this a while ago).

 

i’m not sure if it will help or hurt in the situation you just mentioned 

[Nnaemeka]

In my case since we're either in the same congregation or nearby congregation inform everyone of the suspected hack and start a new group with a different number. So everyone has to be reapproved to join. That's safer.

Edited 52 minutes ago by Nnaemeka

[Tortuga]

A brother in our area was almost scammed a few months ago by someone on Whatsapp claiming to be from the Special Convention and tried to get money from him. They had a JW.org logo and knew he was attending a Special Convention as a delegate, they tried to get a code from him to confirm his hotel reservation. 

 

That was before we received the announcement about Whatsapp scams.