A new chain letter would warn against calls received from a mobile number. Of truth, however, there is little or nothing
The message, as usual, has alarmist tones. And, most likely, this favors its virality and rapid spread. The fact is that for some hours now, Italian WhatsApp users are receiving a spam message that would warn them about the danger of incoming calls from an Italian mobile number.
The text you receive is, in broad strokes, the following: “Please warn the contacts on your list not to answer the number +39-347… it is a virus that formats your cell phone. Beware it is very dangerous..”. It was announced today on Rai TV. Spread it as much as you can”. As you can see, in very few words are present all the key elements that favor the rapid spread of the message: the “threat” (formatting of the phone), the alleged “culprit” (the phone number) and the “certification” of authenticity (the TV announcement on national networks). The only truth, however, is that this is yet another WhatsApp hoax.
What’s true about the message
Probably, the only real element present in the text that is rapidly circulating on WhatsApp is the phone number that should make the call. From some verifications, in fact, it turns out to be active and working and, most likely, the legitimate owner knows very little of what is happening behind his back. For the rest, the other elements are totally campy: there is no call received that is able to format the memory of a smartphone (Android or iOS that is) and, even less, RAI has never made the announcement through its TV channels.
A hoax among many
The rapid spread of the WhatsApp hoax is certainly not surprising. For years, in fact, the most widely used messaging app in the world has been the subject of continuous campaigns of spam messages and chain letters of various kinds that try to mislead users. Some are totally harmless, like the one just seen; others, however, really put the device used and the user’s finances at risk. Think, for example, of the fake shopping voucher scam attempts or the so-called color scam: in both cases you ran the risk of ending up with an infected smartphone and subscriptions to paid services you never requested.