It is possible that these days we will receive a message on WhatsApp with two very appetizing gifts: a card gift for Ikea or a fuel voucher at Repsol, which are as easy to obtain as answering a series of questions.
The WhatsApp message will come from an acquaintance, with a link to access the supposed promotion and a text that encourages us to follow it. We have already seen how to detect hoaxes in WhatsApp, and here all alerts appear.
It sounds really attractive to win an Ikea card or a voucher for Repsol gas stations, and when something seems too good to be true, there is quite a danger that we are facing a scam.
In this case, the messages circulating on WhatsApp are what we call phishing, a type of attack in which cybercriminals pretend to be a well-known company to gain our confidence and obtain personal data.
The Internet User Security Office, a Spanish public body, has detected that messages are circulating a lot during these days:
This type of scam almost always follows the same scheme. After clicking on the link, they ask us some very simple questions, and they tell us that we have won the prize because we have been "lucky".
Various excuses are used, such as that it is the company's anniversary, that they want to know the opinion of their customers or reward their loy alty. Right now Ikea and Repsol are the "hook", but the brands used are changing.
Then they ask us to forward the message on WhatsApp to access the prize, something key for the viral to continue, and the reason why that has come to us from a contact. After WhatsApp's decision to limit the forwarding of viral messages, it must be sent to contacts one by one.
The last step can take us to different malicious websites Some ask us for our phone number and subscribe to paid SMS messages, others they ask for the credit or debit card number to access the prize, and in some cases they are more general advertising, not a scam.
In any case, we are not going to get the Repsol bonus or the Ikea card. Of course, we will avoid providing any personal information If we have given the card number by mistake, we should call the bank, because they will possibly charge us, and it would be good idea to cancel it.
In conclusion, the Ikea cards and Repsol vouchers circulating on WhatsApp are fake, and we should not resend them. At the moment there is a phishing campaign using these two companies, but surely the strategy will change in a short time.
