Data of 900 Hongkongers exposed after hackers breach WhatsApp accounts of social services and schools South China Morning Post

pThe Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data said that fraudsters had hacked the WhatsApp accounts of five social welfare services and schools and impersonated the organisations in a bid to defraud people listed in their address booksppThe news came as the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre warned of a rise in phishing traps designed to target instant messaging platforms such as WhatsAppppThe privacy commissioner said details including names and mobile phone numbers for service users school staff parents and pupils were believed to have been compromised in the latest attackppOfficials added that the organisations involved had notified the people affected by the fraudstersppThe privacy commissioners office explained WhatsApp hijacking happened when fraudsters impersonated friends and relatives or used fake WhatsApp websites to obtain telephone numbers and app registration codesppOnce the fraudsters gain access to an account they try to swindle money or access personal information by messaging the victims contactsppThe computer emergency response team added hackers could also create counterfeit login web pages with QR codes that could be used to access victims accountsppIt added that the hackers used paid advertisements so that the fake pages would appear high up on search engine pagesppIf a user scanned the QR code hackers could gain access to the victims account photos videos documents chat records and contact book detailsppHackers could also assume the identity of the victim and use the account access to send messages to contacts such as requesting fund transfersppIt added people should check for unknown devices being linked to their accounts and routinely check archive folders for malicious recordsppIf someone fears their personal details may have been leaked they can file a complaint with the privacy commissioners officeppThe Post has contacted Meta WhatsApps parent company for comment on the latest data breachesppWhatsApp was last year involved in a data scandal with online publication Cybernews reporting that the mobile phone numbers of nearly 500 million users including as many as 3 million in Hong Kong had been compromised and listed for sale on a prominent online hacking forumppBut Meta denied the allegations and insisted the report was speculative and unsubstantiatedppThe company added it had found no evidence of a data leak on WhatsApp systemsppThe city had the highest rate of suspected digital fraud attempts among markets studied in a report released on Wednesday by TransUnion a consumer credit reporting agency based in the United States It found that while the average global suspected digital fraud rate was 53 per cent in the first half of 2023 it stood at 183 per cent for Hong KongppScams related to travel and leisure dominated fraud attempts in Hong Kong at 83 per cent according to the TransUnion reportppThe agency previously found that 38 per cent of consumers in the city had reported being the targets of fraudp