Beware of this WhatsApp “subscription expired” scam

Users of mobile social app WhatsApp should be on the lookout for messages claiming that their subscription has expired.

Such messages claim that the user can renew their subscription for 99p and provide a link where they can apparently head to renew their subscription. See an example of such a scam message below.

However it’s a scam. While WhatsApp – now owned by Facebook – did charge users an annual $1 fee, this fee has long been entirely scrapped, and WhatsApp has not announced any new plans to reintroduce the fee.

As such, any message claiming that your WhatsApp subscription has expired and attempts to lure you into clicking a link is going to be a scam. Such links may lead to a variety of scams, such as malware websites, phishing websites or you may end up handing over a fictional fee to cyber crooks.

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It should also be noted that chain messages that claim WhatsApp are going to introduce a fee but you can bypass that fee by sending the same message to 10 of your contacts (or similar sounding nonsense) are also hoaxes.

If you receive a message claiming WhatsApp are going to charge you or that your subscription has expired, then delete it immediately. It’s a scam.