No, the technical service of WhatsApp did not send you a message to warn you of an alleged illegitimate access to your account. It is a new scam that has spread in recent days through the conversations of the most used messaging app in the world.
This is indicated in a tweet published by the WABetaInfo portal, in which they explain that the message that many users are receiving does not come from an official WhatsApp account, but rather it is a scam attempt, the origin of which is currently unknown.
Beware of the new scam that tries to get the WhatsApp verification code
In the message in question, the user is told that “a WhatsApp account with his number has recently been registered” and that “it cannot be determined whether the login is legitimate”. The message originates from a telephone number with an area code in the United Kingdom.
Subsequently, they claim to have sent an identity verification request and ask the user for the code received via SMS, or otherwise, the account would be suspended.
The clues that confirm that this is a totally false message. First of all, when WhatsApp sends a warning message to a user through a chat that, incidentally, occurs in very special circumstances and is not at all frequent, a green verification indicator appears next to the account name.
On the other hand, details such as the fact that, in the first paragraph, “WhatsApp” is spelled incorrectly “Whatsapp”, clarifies again that it is a fraudulent message.
In addition to this, WhatsApp itself indicates in the frequently asked questions section that the verification code received by SMS should never be shared with other people and that it should only be used to associate our WhatsApp account with a new device during the initial configuration process.
In case of receipt of a verification code without having requested it, most likely, it means that someone entered our number while accessing WhatsApp, by mistake or maliciously, in order to take control of our account.
In this sense, moreover, WhatsApp stresses that the company does not have enough information to identify the person who is trying to access our account, which would make it very difficult to recover a stolen account for sharing a verification code with a third party.
In short- if you receive such a message, it is better to ignore it completely. It is also recommended to report and block the account, with the hope that it will be permanently suspended by WhatsApp sooner or later.
