It seems like scammers have turned the popular LINE messaging app as a channel to attempt to meet naive victims. A recent one this week was when a naive scammer compromised Zane Chua’s account and used his identity to contact his friends to convince them to send him some iTunes credits.
I myself received three requests this week. Tough luck, scammers, but I do not have any buddies named Jeremy that I am close enough to buy iTunes gift cards for. Another one was a random and suspicious “hihi” from a workaholic friend who would never drop me a message on LINE (we don’t primarily use that to chat) during work hours.
Typically, the hacker would initiate a conversation before requesting for a favour. Once a reply is received, they would ask for gift cards and suggest you get them from a nearby convenience store, then send them a picture of the serial numbers.
It almost sounds like they have all attended the same course on “Dummies Guide on How to Scam People on LINE” because the tactics are all so dull.
How do you know if you get hacked?
Whether or not you are a frequent user of LINE, it’s better you should check your account. When you try to log in, you may see this warning:
“You cannot use this account. Since this account has been logged on in a different location, all information saved in this terminal will be deleted.”
What to do if you get hacked?
Immediately report to LINE by filling up this form to inform the staff to lock your account as soon as they can.
How can I protect myself from getting my LINE account hacked?
- Only sign in using trusted devices. Refrain from using public terminals to access the account.
- Change your password. Stick to something that is harder to decode, preferably something you aren’t using for any other log-ins as well. This TED talk reveals the most common passwords are “password” “letmein” and “iloveyou”
- Disable PC login.
- Set a PIN.
At the end of the day, just note that if you friend would like you to get some iTunes credits, call them to verify their request. Or if you need some entertainment, go ahead and have fun with the scammers like how Zane’s friend did.