The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan published a consumer alert on fraud conducted through WhatsApp, explaining how criminals can compromise messaging accounts and then use them to deceive contacts or obtain personal and financial information. The guidance describes common takeover methods, including persuading users to share a one-time SMS authorisation code, using a fake “meeting invitation” scenario to elicit a code, and hijacking an account to request loans from friends, colleagues, or relatives. It also lists warning signs such as psychological pressure, threats, requests to share passwords, PINs, personal data, or banking details, prompts to click links or enable “new functions”, requests to forward messages, and demands for payment to restore access. Recommended protections include stopping communication and not following the requested steps, blocking and reporting suspicious users in WhatsApp, limiting access to personal data on the phone, enabling two-step verification, never sharing registration codes or two-step verification PINs, setting a strong email password, and regularly reviewing and removing linked devices.

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