WhatsApp is the most popular messaging platform in India which has made SMS a thing of the past. Used by people of all ages who may or may not be well-versed with technology, it is naturally a target of choice for hackers.
While the Meta-owned platform offers end-to-end subscription, there are ways through which hackers can infiltrate your WhatsApp account and compromise your security. This makes it important to know basic steps to check if your WhatsApp is being used or operated by someone else.
Scammers may use complex ways to hack into WhatsApp accounts making identifying it tricky. But there are some simple steps by which WhatsApp users can spot if there is something fishy going on with their account.
Here are some easy tips to check if your WhatsApp is being hacked:
1. Observe your WhatsApp account activity: For this, go through the list of messageson your WhatsApp. Yoy can check for any messages or conversations which you did not engage in yourself but appear sent or received in your device.
2. Review contact details: Hackers can sometime change contact information. To identify this, go to the three vertical dots on your WhatsApp. Go to settings and review your Contact information, pic and status details. Ensure information like name and phone number is up-to-date and accurate.
3. Look for messages from Whatsapp on your SMS app: If you find messages about account access or account change that were not initiated by you, something might be fishy.
4. Check contacts: Search your WhatsApp Contacts list for any new contacts that you have not added. Look for unknown contacts that you don’t remember adding.
5. Review linked devices with your WhatsApp account: Identify if there are unknown devices in the list of those from which your account has been accessed. If you find any which you cannot identify, immediately log out.
If you find any of these warning signs on your WhatsApp account, it may be time to reauthenticate your two-step verification.