WhatsApp launches scam messages awareness campaign

More than half (59%) of people have received a message-based scam in the last year or know someone who has.

A text or WhatsApp message from a ‘friend in need’ asking for money or personal information could be a scammer, a new awareness campaign is warning (Nick Ansell/PA)

A text or WhatsApp message from a “friend in need” asking for money or personal information could be a scammer, a new awareness campaign has warned.

More than half (59%) of people in the UK have received a message-based scam in the last year or know someone who has, according to a new awareness drive launched by WhatsApp in partnership with National Trading Standards.