Today, it takes seconds for a hoax message to spread on WhatsApp. It’s because of this spread of misinformation that several incidents of lynching have been reported in India in the past couple of months. In fact, after the lynching incidents were reported, the Indian government directed WhatsApp to take measures to resolve the spread of misinformation. On account of that WhatsApp has now restricted the forwards to only five at a time. In the last few years, most WhatsApp users must have come across hundreds of such hoax messages. There’s a new hoax message spreading in the town and you should beware of it. The message is related to “WhatsApp Gold”.
What Is WhatsApp Gold and Why Should WhatsApp Users Care?
As noted, WhatsApp Gold is a hoax message which users are spreading on a massive scale. The WhatsApp Gold message is being set up by a group of scammers to fool users. With the message, the scammers are persuading the WhatsApp users to believe that there is a secret update available for them getting which they will get new features and an enhanced version of WhatsApp. Some people are also falling for it, beware.
The scammers are basically sending a link with the message to the WhatsApp users and asking them to download WhatsApp Gold, which in reality is a malware that you’re downloading the not new version of WhatsApp. This hoax message also includes the word “Martinelli”.
Well, if you have been using WhatsApp for years now, you’ll probably remember that back in 2016 a hoax message was spread with the same “Martinelli” word on it. As is the case now, Martinelli created panic attacks among the WhatsApp users then too.
This is how apparently the message read: “If you know anyone using WhatsApp you might pass on this. An IT colleague has advised that a video comes out from WhatsApp called martinelli do not open it, it hacks your phone and nothing will fix it. Spread the word.” But the reality is, there’s no video at all. The said video called martinelli doesn’t exist in real life.
What Should You Do to Avoid These Messages?
Notably, such kind of hoax messages spread very easily and similar is the case with the new one. To avoid being attacked by these hoax messages WhatsApp you should first stop forwarding them to your friends and family and avoid spreading them even further to other people. If you get such a message that promises to give you something and also comes with a link, simply ignore them. As soon as you receive such messages delete them and be alert to not click on them.
