There are more and more cases of WhatsApp theft, people who notify on social networks that their WhatsApp has been stolen and that they ignore the messages received from their account.
In this article I will comment on two important points: the reason why they usually carry out this type of action and the steps that must be taken to recover the account, but first let’s see how they manage to steal it.
How a WhatsApp account is stolen
The most common way is to ask for the six-digit code received by SMS. When we install WhatsApp we have to confirm our number, and for this we receive an SMS code in that number. In this way, WhatsApp ensures that the owner of the account is the same as the owner of the number.
If I want to install WhatsApp on another mobile, I will have to ask for the SMS code again, but I will always receive it on the mobile where the SIM card is installed. Once you obtain this code, you can install WhatsApp on any mobile you want, but doing so disables WhatsApp on the previous mobile (you can only have WhatsApp on one mobile at the same time).
Now let’s imagine that a thief wants to steal our WhatsApp, what will he do?
1 – Install WhatsApp on a mobile 2 – Inform my phone number (the victim’s phone number) 3 – At that time I (the victim) receive an SMS code, and the thief does not have access to it, so I try to get it anyway. To do this, you can call me by going through WhatsApp support, or send a message from an account with the name of a relative saying that you need that code for anything … the way to get it may vary, so the most important thing here is to have It is clear that we must NEVER inform the SMS code to anyone, not even a relative saying that it is a matter of life or death, since the relative may have been hacked, it is not our cousin who is asking for it, it is the thief. – If you manage to obtain the SMS code, steal our WhatsApp and we will lose access to our chats.
Why do they want to steal my WhatsApp
The reason may vary, but the most common is that they try to reach someone in particular. If I want to invade someone’s account, go to Linkedin and see how many contacts there are between the victim and me (the attacker). Once done, I establish a strategy: if I want to get Pedro’s WhatsApp (for espionage, for example), I have to get Laura’s WhatsApp, from there I get Lucas’s, and then I get to Pedro.
It is easier to steal the WhatsApp of someone you know, since I can pretend to be a relative or common friend to deceive them and ask for the SMS code from step 3 above. When you get the WhatsApp of an acquaintance, it will be easier to invade the WhatsApp of your contacts.
That is the mentality of the criminal, the reason why many times celebrities see their accounts stolen, because someone has managed to climb between contacts until they reach the final destination.
How do I recover my account?
The simplest thing is to press the button to verify that it appears when someone steals my account, that way WhatsApp will send a new SMS code and I will be the owner of my account again.
If we have lost the verify button, or if it does not appear when we open WhatsApp, we can always uninstall WhatsApp and reinstall it. At that time send the confirmation SMS code, and when we inform it, the account that the hacker has on his phone will be disabled (remember that today it is not possible to have WhatsApp installed in two places at the same time).
Once the account is recovered on the mobile, we have to open WhatsApp in the web browser using web.whatsapp.com and scanning the QR code, that way the web session that the criminal may have opened, will also be deactivated.
Risks and complications
Some things can go wrong, as the criminal may have changed the account phone number while it was in their possession, making the recovery process difficult. You may also have enabled two-step identification, so we will need, in addition to the SMS, the verification code that the hacker has defined. To avoid that, it is better that we have already done the verification in two steps before, so the thief will need something more than an SMS.
If there are any of those complications: the hacker has changed his number or has activated the verification in two steps, we will not be able to recover the account by installing WhatsApp again, so it will be necessary to contact support and wait a few days to recover the account (in some cases it may reach 7 days or more). You can contact us through this form: click here.
It is important to bear in mind that during the time that the criminal has taken over our account, he will be able to consult all the talks we have made in the past if he has access to the copy of Google Drive, so if you have passwords or account numbers with passwords, lock or change them immediately.
On the other hand, although the backup that the hacker may have recovered from Google Drive cannot be read after we have recovered our account, it may have made backup copies of various types during the access time, so it is never advisable to put confidential data on WhatsApp, we will never know if one day we will be the victim of the story.
How to prevent my WhatsApp account from being stolen
There are two things we can do:
– Never send the received SMS code to anyone, not to family, friends or anyone. – Establish the two-step verification system from now on to prevent our WhatsApp being stolen with a simple SMS code.
