This New WeChat Scam is Splattered All Over Moments

We’ve all seen the latest trend for businesses, the “Share and Save” campaign.

It’s splattered throughout our moments, within friend groups and maybe your friends have even DM’d them to you!

What is it?

A deal where a specific amount of people buy a certain product or service and once that number is reached they all receive a discount on the product or service.

For example: 40 people need to purchase this 500rmb massage to receive it for 300rmb.

What’s the problem?

Scammers are using a similar tactic to hack users stealing their personal information, bank account information, and WeChat money.

Case 1:

Recently, Mr. Guo, a Beijing citizen, saw a link in his moments from a friend. If he clicked on the link he would receive a free iPhone X.

He clicks on the "bargain" link. It asks for his name and phone number. Once this is entered, a popup appears:

 “You have helped a friend cut 68rmb!

Now you can get a FREE iPhone X.

Time is limited, so all you need to do is fill in the information to share your link with friends!”

This sounds easy, right? So without thinking, Mr. Guo enters his information, receives his link, posts it on his moments and sends it to all of his friends!

What happened next?

Mr. Guo received a message from his bank that 600rmb had been withdrawn via his WeChat wallet.

“The password was hacked and my WeChat Wallet balance was cleared,” Guo said. Fortunately, his bank card and WeChat wallet were not connected or else his loss would be much greater than this.

Case 2:

This ‘bargain link’ claimed users will receive these products; from 20rmb in snacks, 5,000rmb mobile phone, and 10,000rmb camera for free once enough people clicked on it.

In order to help, Ms. Wang not only posted it on her moments but also forwarded it to all of her friends and family directly. She finally reached her 0rmb goal, however, when she went to claim her prizes, she found it could not be purchased.

“I tried so hard and I did not expect this result.”

Many users reported similar cases where they reached the 0rmb goal total and were unable to “purchase” to receive their products.

In response, police warned that a number of cases show that this is a new type of fraud.

“The WeChat "help bargain" activities were originally only used for marketing. Many businesses used this kind of promotion for ‘word of mouth’ marketing in a short period of time. However, now this low-cost operation makes it easy to hack. Criminals are able to collect personal information and money which has turned into a large scale scam.”

Police advise users to maintain a high awareness for these types of scams.

Do not fill in sensitive personal information to websites or APPs. If asked to transfer, verify the identity of the party before issuing permission.

Help keep your friends safe by sharing this article!

Editor: Crystal Huang

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