It is the story of last Saturday, precisely 19th October, 2024. At 1:35 pm, I got a phone call from an unknown number.
I have seen many people don’t attend the calls from unknown numbers but I do. We never know who is on the other side and in which emergency.
So I attended the call. The person on the other side started telling me about a certificate that I needed to obtain for the validation of my graduation degree.
Some time ago, I had heard of some documentation that I was missing. The first thing that came to my mind after receiving that call was that the caller was referring to that documentation.
He told that due to some security purposes, the portal of online registration is not created yet and we need to verify the information individually and privately. Further, he went on telling me the details of how to go for the registration process.
Certain things in the information were very confusing for me. He mentioned the name of a medical institute of which I was never a student. I asked questions to clarify my confusions. Though his replies did not elucidate my queries, but I faced an information overload. Moreover, I also got afraid of missing the opportunity as he told me quite a closer date for the registration to be done.
For the process to be completed, he told me that they were going to send a code on my email account and I need to check it immediately.
Consequently, I turned back to mobile screen looking for any mail. There was something very unusual on my screen , a code from WhatsApp. 🤔. I swapped the screen and moved to check my email account. There was not any notification.
After checking that, I returned back to the call and asked some other questions. The caller gave me replies to them creating some more pressure on me.
Meanwhile, he told me to tell him the code sent to me. I told him that I did not receive any code. He told me that they are sending again on my WhatsApp account.
I returned to my screen and saw a 6-digit code. Again......
I told the code to him. And that was the point, where the misery begun..........
It was the OTP for shifting my WhatsApp account to another device.
To the device of the hacker. Yeah! My WhatsApp account was hacked.
After taking the code, the hacker told me that they were going to confirm my email account and send a mail there. I was told to stay on call for a while and open my gmail account. I was so gullible to believe him still. I stayed on the call.
When it took more than a minute for them to respond amidst the complete silence, I disconnected the call.
As soon as I disconnected the call, I rang again from the same number.
Nevertheless, there was a space of a few seconds between the call disconnection and receiving it again . It was during those fleeting moments when the reality hit me, and I realized that my WhatsApp account was hacked.
I attended the call. The caller asked me why I disconnected the call. I couldn’t make out what to say at that time.
I said I was busy at that moment and would be talking later. He asked me after how much time I would be available. I told, “After half an hour”, and disconnected the call.
I got panicked and tried to restore my account, but all in vain. Now the OTP was being sent to the hacker’s device of which I had no access. Because of too many attempts, a limit of eleven hours was put for the next trial.
I ran to my brother’s room and told him what just had happened. He advised me to inform my contacts immediately about the incident so they shouldn’t be scammed.
I wanted to send the message to all the contacts at once but my device didn’t allow me to or perhaps I don’t know how to do it if it has the features. Anyways, I could send message only to 20 contacts at a time, after creating a group for each twenty. What a nonsense feature!
Anyhow, I sent message to some of the contacts; but I couldn’t send the message to everyone. I was worried, unfocused and distracted. My thoughts were going back to the account loss again and again.
More than losing my WhatsApp account, I was more worried about losing my gmail account. You know, how devastating it could be to lose a gmail account linked with so many other important services. Moreover, it had some crucial information in it.
Leaving the task of sending message to my contacts incomplete, I went on preserving and deleting important information from my gmail account.
Then I started searching the method of account recovery. I found out about WhatsApp support, and mailed them.
Then I went on searching for the procedure to report the crime to FIA.
I went on asking to my Hive friends on Discord, especially Hivepakistan if they knew what to do in this situation.
Going through all this I simply forgot that I had to send message to the remaining contacts. It was another mistake of the day......
After a couple of hours, I reminded that I had to inform my remaining contacts.
One of my friends replied that she got a message from my number asking for money. Upon asking certain questions, she doubted and asked to give her some time.
I told my friend to update the information in the WhatsApp group so that everyone remains safe.
After a while, she texted me back informing that a friend of ours had already been scammed. She had sent 35k PKR (126 USD) to the hacker 😟.
I regretted for not informing them earlier. I am extremely sorry for her loss. Nevertheless , I am thankful that not all of them sent the money, as the hacker approached many of my friends.
I talked to the friend who was scammed and promised to compensated her at least half of they money she had sent, as it is equally a big amount for me.
She said that it was not my fault and so I didn’t need to worry. However, I understand the loss and feel responsible to compensate her.
Getting our account hacked is a terrible experience. It just drained me of my energy for the time being.
However, I am thankful for the lesser loss. The damage could be greater.
I recovered my account the next morning but it didn’t come easy.
What more I went through, did, and learnt in the process.....
I will tell in the next post.
Until then, stay safe ...
The image is taken by me via my mobile.