Recently, there has been a lot of talk about user privacy and security on social networks and other services due to the NSA spying in the U.S. Now, there is more news going around the web aimed to scare—or tempt—people in regards to WhatsApp Spy, an app that “allows” you to download any of your friend’s conversations by just entering your phone number. This service is a scam, and you should never download it.
You may have recently read tweets in your timeline such as this (or similar to it) which say that, even though it’s hard to believe, one of your friends is spying on conversations on WhatsApp, followed by a link that takes you to a blog or web page so you can also download this very tempting application.
It must be made very clear that there is no such application capable of spying on WhatsApp conversations – not with WhatsApp Spy, nor with its cousin app WhatsApp Hacking. Your WhatsApp conversations are stored on your phone, not on the company’s servers, which means that it is impossible to get a hold of your friend’s conversations, even if you know their number and user name.
In fact, magical applications such as these don’t even exist, the links redirect to different download pages hoping that someone takes the bait, and sends the required SMS to download the program, which in reality subscribes them automatically to a paid messaging service that can end up being really expensive. Each SMS you receive costs approximately $2, and the service will make sure you receive several each week. The National Police Corps of Spain has already tweeted a warning about the problem.
Once you supposedly downloaded WhatsApp Spy, if you entered your almost-hacked friend’s phone number, a file with all their conversations would appear. Simple, fast, and false. Also, there is a video tutorial on YouTube with more than 700,000 views to make it even more credible, which explains all the steps to install it, and shows the fake conversations obtained.
On the other hand, as these services are a scam and completely false, you don’t need to install any additional application to protect yourself from these spies.
In summary, don’t fall for downloading any new app that appears online claiming to be able to spy on WhatsApp chats, despite how tempting it may seem. Some Twitter users have a very clear opinion about it.
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