What's New
What's News- Reaching Out to the Community – Privacy Commissioner Interviewed by the Media to Explain WhatsApp Account Hijacking
Date: 9 October 2023
Reaching Out to the Community – Privacy Commissioner Interviewed by the Media to Explain WhatsApp Account Hijacking
The Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (Privacy Commissioner), Ms Ada CHUNG Lai-ling, was interviewed by Commercial Radio News’ “News Bulletin”, RTHK Radio 1’s “HK2000” and Commercial Radio 1’s “On a Clear Day” on 5 and 6 October to explain the fraudulent tricks of WhatsApp Account Hijacking.
During the interviews, the Privacy Commissioner pointed out that her office received data breach notifications from a total of five welfare organisations and schools last month relating to the hijacking of WhatsApp accounts, which reflected a rising trend in the number of hijacking cases on WhatsApp accounts.
She said fraudsters impersonated the victims’ friends and relatives to request them to provide the registration codes of their WhatsApp accounts; or used fake WhatsApp websites to obtain the victims’ telephone numbers and registration codes. The fraudsters then gained access to the victims’ WhatsApp accounts and impersonated the victims to contact their friends and relatives for swindling money.
The Privacy Commissioner also reminded members of the public to take measures to safeguard their personal data privacy, which included enabling two-factor authentication on WhatsApp, being alert and authenticating the identities of the senders when they receive suspicious messages.
The interview by RTHK Radio 1’s “HK2000” can be listened here (Chinese only).
During the interviews, the Privacy Commissioner pointed out that her office received data breach notifications from a total of five welfare organisations and schools last month relating to the hijacking of WhatsApp accounts, which reflected a rising trend in the number of hijacking cases on WhatsApp accounts.
She said fraudsters impersonated the victims’ friends and relatives to request them to provide the registration codes of their WhatsApp accounts; or used fake WhatsApp websites to obtain the victims’ telephone numbers and registration codes. The fraudsters then gained access to the victims’ WhatsApp accounts and impersonated the victims to contact their friends and relatives for swindling money.
The Privacy Commissioner also reminded members of the public to take measures to safeguard their personal data privacy, which included enabling two-factor authentication on WhatsApp, being alert and authenticating the identities of the senders when they receive suspicious messages.
The interview by RTHK Radio 1’s “HK2000” can be listened here (Chinese only).
Privacy Commissioner, Ms Ada CHUNG Lai-ling (left), was interviewed by RTHK Radio 1’s “HK2000”.