{"id":82949,"date":"2016-05-27T15:06:43","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T09:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.quickheal.com\/?p=82949"},"modified":"2016-05-28T11:14:24","modified_gmt":"2016-05-28T05:44:24","slug":"stay-away-from-whatsapp-gold-its-fake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/stay-away-from-whatsapp-gold-its-fake\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay away from &#8216;WhatsApp Gold&#8217; &#8211; It&#8217;s a fake app!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you haven&#8217;t yet heard of the &#8216;WhatsApp Gold&#8217; app, you soon will. And we are here to tell you that, this is yet another scam planned by cyber crooks.<\/p>\n<p>Users of popular messaging app WhatsApp, are reporting about receiving a message that advertises a newly launched app called <strong>WhatsApp Gold<\/strong>. The message reads as follows:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.quickheal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/WhatsApp-Gold-Scam.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-82950\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.quickheal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/WhatsApp-Gold-Scam.png\" alt=\"WhatsApp Gold Scam\" width=\"339\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/WhatsApp-Gold-Scam.png 339w, https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/WhatsApp-Gold-Scam-276x300.png 276w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 339px) 100vw, 339px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15px; color: #006bb2; font-weight: bold;\">According to the message&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 WhatsApp gold was only used by celebrities and now it can be used by all<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Messages sent accidentally can be deleted on this app<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 More than 100 images can be sent at once<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Themes can be changed<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 The app can be activated via invites only and it can be done at www.goldenversion.com<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15px; color: #006bb2; font-weight: bold;\">The Truth<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Neither Facebook nor WhatsApp has issued any kind of official statement that can verify any such app called WhatsApp Gold.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 This is just another scam launched by hackers to trick WhatsApp users. Clicking on the link is most likely to download a malware on your phone that can steal your private data including pictures and videos, and track your location\/activity.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Presently, the link www.goldenversion.com is not accessible.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 This scam is somewhat related to WhatsApp Plus &#8211; an app that used the name of WhatsApp but was never really developed by the company. Read more about this <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.quickheal.com\/whatsapp-plus-users-face-temporary-ban-whatsapp\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15px; color: #006bb2; font-weight: bold;\">What should you do?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 If you do come across the above message or any message that asks you to try out a new update, app or feature, do not fall for it. Delete such messages right away. If you think there is an updated version for your app, go to Google Play Store or App Store and get the update from there.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Inform your friends and acquaintances about this scam and advise them to avoid spreading the message to others.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Note that WhatsApp Gold is not available on Google Play or the App Store. It is most likely to surface on third-party, unofficial app stores. And you know what to do with such places &#8211; stay away from them.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 If you have installed WhatsApp Gold on your phone, uninstall it. If you are not being able to do so, get a mobile antivirus app to clean your phone. Once that is done, install the original WhatsApp app from an official app store.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15px; color: #006bb2; font-weight: bold;\">Important Note<\/span><\/p>\n<p>WhatsApp never sends messages to of its users. The only channel which it may use to communicate is via email and this is only when a user initiates a conversation. Read the full official statement here &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/faq\/en\/general\/28030005\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/faq\/en\/general\/28030005<\/a><\/p>\n<p>So, the very fact that WhatsApp never sends message to its users should be a substantial reason for all WhatsApp users to stay cautious against messages such as the one discussed in this post.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?app_id=188707654478&amp;sdk=joey&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.quickheal.com%2F%3Fp%3D82949%26preview%3Dtrue&amp;display=popup&amp;ref=plugin&amp;src=share_button\" target=\"_blank\">Share<\/a> this news with your friends and acquaintances so that they don&#8217;t fall prey to this scam.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #666666;\">Sources:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666666;\">https:\/\/indiatoday.intoday.in\/technology\/story\/beware-whatsapp-gold-is-spam-will-steal-private-photos\/1\/678098.html<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666666;\">https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/gadgets-and-tech\/news\/whatsapp-gold-plus-scam-malware-download-get-message-a7045606.html<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666666;\">https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/tech\/tech-news\/WhatsApp-Gold-scammers-trick-users-to-download-malware\/articleshow\/52438982.cms<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #666666;\">https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/technology\/social\/whatsapp-gold-invite-scam-avoid-fraud-2819585\/<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you haven&#8217;t yet heard of the &#8216;WhatsApp Gold&#8217; app, you soon will. And we are here to tell you that, this is yet another scam planned by cyber crooks. Users of popular messaging app WhatsApp, are reporting about receiving a message that advertises a newly launched app called WhatsApp Gold. The message reads as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":82954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[300,773,842],"tags":[1013,1325,423,1199],"class_list":["post-82949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-online-hoaxes","category-online-privacy-2","category-privacy","tag-fake-whatsapp","tag-whatsapp-gold","tag-whatsapp-hoax","tag-whatsapp-scam"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82949"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82949"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82965,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82949\/revisions\/82965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickheal.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}