WhatsApp phishing scam alert! This Father’s Day message could still steal your data

WhatsApp users are being tricked into the “Heineken Beer Father’s Day Contest 2022” scam.

Scammers are targeting WhatsApp users via Heineken Beer Father’s Day Contest 2022 scam! (REUTERS)

WhatsApp users are being trapped in a Father's day phishing scam via a message that offers people the chance to win “free crates of beer”. A WhatsApp message circulating on social media claims that a Heineken Beer Father's Day Contest 2022 is giving away ‘5,000 coolers full of Heineken for your Dad' to winners. The message contains a photo of a crate of Heineken beer and a link to the website to participate in the ‘contest'. Upon clicking the link the users are redirected to potentially dangerous phishing pages, spam and malicious websites that steal personal information and account credentials. The WhatsApp phishing scam has been reported by an internet scam tracking website onlinethreatalerts, which also warned the public not to fall into such traps.

Heineken too has confirmed the ‘contest' is a scam on Twitter. Replying to a question about the same on the microblogging site, the company said, "This is a scam. Thank you for highlighting it to us. Please don't click on links or forward any messages. Many thanks."

How this WhatsApp Heineken phishing scam traps users?

Users are receiving a WhatsApp message that claims to give 5000 coolers full of Heineken to winners of Heineken Beer Father's Day Contest 2022. Upon clicking on the designated link, users are taken to a malicious website that not only steals personal information, and account credentials but also tricks them into signing up for unwanted services. Users who click on the link are also asked to share the competition with up to 20 contacts so if you receive any such messages from any of your contacts don't open it.

This isn't the first time Heineken's name has been used in such a scam to trap users. Earlier 2018, as well as in 2020, a similar message claiming to be giving away free kegs was widely shared on WhatsApp. Not only WhatsApp but these scam messages are also circulated via Twitter and Facebook.