Warning about dangerous video on WhatsApp called “martinelli”. Fact Check
A warning spreading on Facebook claims a “video comes out tomorrow” on WhatsApp called “Martinelli”, and it has the ability to hack your phone if you open it.
Some versions of the hoax also include another claim that a video called “Dance With The Pope” is spreading that will “format your mobile”.
FALSE
The warnings started to spread on social media in 2019 and are largely false and should not be circulated. They are based on even older hoaxes that have been circulating for years. Some versions of this hoax are below.
WARNING TO ALL FRIENDS
From BBC radio this morning :
If you know anyone using WhatsApp, you might pass on this. Be advised that a video comes out tomorrow from WhatsApp called Martinelli. Do not open it – it hacks your phone and nothing will fix it. Spread the word.
Also, if you receive a message to update the Whatsapp to Whatsapp Gold, do not click !!!!!
Please inform all contacts from your list not to open a video called the “Dance of the Pope”. It is a virus that formats your mobile. Beware it is very dangerous. They announced it today on BBC radio. Fwd this msg to as many as you can! Is this true
Collected 2019.
If you know anyone using WhatsApp you might pass this on. An IT colleague has advised that a video comes out tomorrow from WhatsApp called martinelli do not open it, it hacks your phone and nothing will fix it. Spread the word. If you receive a message to update “Whatsapp” to “Whatsapp Gold” do not click !!!! Now said on the news this virus is difficult and severe. Pass it on to all…
Collected 2018.
Bluewhale hackers: They say that tomorrow a video comes out by whatsapp, it’s called martinelli, do not open it, it hacks your phone in 10 seconds and it can not be stopped in any way. Pass the data to your friends.
Dont click any link naming “popcorn carnival”. Its the hidden link for the blue whale challenge. They’ll hack ur mobile and blackmail you to play blue whale game…share as much as possible.dont be lazy to share../may be ur friends r relative may suffer.
Collected 2017.
Despite these warnings claiming the new video will “come out tomorrow”, these messages have actually been spreading for years. Earlier iterations of this message claim the warning came from an unnamed “IT colleague” while more recent versions changed this to BBC Radio.
There is no dangerous video spreading on WhatsApp called “martinelli”, neither in 2018 when this first spread between users, nor currently. It is unlikely that opening a video on WhatsApp will cause your phone any damage. With the exception of a handful of fleeting (and now fixed) security vulnerabilities, opening a video within the confines of the mobile app is safe.
Fake virus hoaxes are among the oldest and most diverse types of online bunk, themselves dating back to the popular “FWD: Fwd: FWD:” chain emails that no doubt characterized any 1990’s email inbox. While such warnings tend to favour social media now, they are no more accurate.
Like many warnings of this ilk, the messages above are too vague to be of any real help. They don’t describe how a WhatsApp video could “hack” a phone, nor do they describe what is meant by the term “hack”. As is often the case, such messages appear to rely on the faulty “magic hacker” explanation. Because the author is not technically inclined, they describe some technically infeasible or improbable feat (such as hacking a phone with a video) and when pressed to explain the how, go on to vaguely attribute it to the apparent magical ability of shadowy “hackers”.
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In 2019, the “martinelli” warning also became attached to the “Dance of the Pope” virus hoax. Again, this virus warning was not based on any real threat, and again was mostly borrowed or inspired by previous fake virus warnings. We discussed it back in 2016 here.
There is a modicum of advice worth heeding buried in later versions of this warning, however, and that is to avoid clicking on links that claim to offer a feature called “WhatsApp Gold”. Crooks did indeed once use this ruse to trick WhatsApp users into visiting external and potentially malicious websites that could have been used to install malware onto a victim’s device under the guise of a WhatsApp upgrade. However we haven’t seen this threat emerge for a number of years now.
Other than that, this is just the usual rehashed scarelore virus warning. There are no real threats as described in the messages above, and even if they did attempt to describe genuine attacks, they are too vague to be of any use.