Here's how I got hacked on WhatsApp. Hoping this helps you avoid the same experience!
The first thing that happened was pretty unexciting: I got a text message, for no obvious reason.
Having no need for a WhatsApp code, I ignored it. But then my neighbour WhatsApped me. Let's call her Penny. An emoji came first:
Actually, Penny might send an emoji. So I thought this was her. It was followed by a request which looked completely plausible.
At this point I know 50% of people will say, “I would never fall for that.” But look at the time on my reply
At 1158 I'm up to my ears at work (listen to @BBCRadio2 to find out why).
So I forwarded Penny the code — but within a minute I was having doubts.
The correct answer was Buster — he's a little on the heavy side — but there was no answer. Now I messaged Penny on SMS:
Of course it was too late. My WhatsApp had fallen under enemy control. Pretty soon I was getting calls and texts from savvy friends who — unlike me — were double-checking strange requests I had appeared to send them on WhatsApp.
What do the hackers do? Imagine two friends, Jess and Mike. They try to set up Mike's WhatsApp on their phone, which triggers the authorisation code to his phone. Then they impersonate Jess to get him to send them the code.
Now inside Mike's account, they go through his contacts ... and wash, rinse, repeat.
Sadly, there isn't anyone you can call on WhatsApp. That place is like the Marie Celeste. You get locked out of your account for 12 hours. I'm up at 2am because I needed to get back in as soon as possible to stop the hackers locking the account down again.
Lessons? Make sure you have a great techie person in your life like @JemStone or @willguyatt (pictured). Will talked me off the ledge — the hackers can't use your WhatsApp to get into anything else like Facebook or your bank accounts.
Use dual factor authentication (I didn't know WhatsApp had this).
Oh — Don't be alarmed that the hackers will read all your previous messages. They can't access them. This article has more:
forbes.com/sites/zakdoffm…
And finally — if you're the kind of person who says “I definitely wouldn't fall for this...” You're the kind of person who definitely will.
It makes this message a little redundant, doesn't it? A brick wall on one side, a window on the other.

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More from @theJeremyVine

5 Nov
Last night saw exceptional levels of traffic near my home in west London. This was caused in part by a serious car crash in Shepherds Bush. But there was also a massive surge onto the roads by people running errands, including Christmas shopping, before the second lockdown.
Disappointingly, a number of people have since used the exceptional traffic levels to argue that places like Chiswick, Kensington and Hammersmith should now rip out all their cycle lanes — which have only just been put in place after years of campaigning.
By way of example, this post from a prominent Chiswick councillor talked today about cycle paths as a “triumph of evil” that have resulted in “the destruction” of her home town.
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17 May
THREAD. Today I turn 55 with the country still mostly in lockdown ("happy birthday to me"), so living in the present is weird enough. But I will also be remembering these thirty-one men, average age 40.
Around 25 years ago, the BBC threw out some tatty books which were their (very old) way of cataloguing their sound archive. I kept one and found my birthday, 17/5/65 in it. That's how I first heard about the Cambrian Colliery explosion which happened in 1965, the day I was born.
The seam where the miners worked was 900ft underground. There was a leak of "firedamp", which at the time was the name given to any explosive gas in a mine. The gas leak in the Cambrian Colliery was probably methane, which will explode at a range of 5-15% concentration.
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19 Apr
Loads of people say, “How can there be any downside to wearing a mask to stop #Coronavirus?” And it's true, you'd think at the very least a facemask outdoors can do no harm. Since I've now done about 25 interviews on the subject I thought I would summarise the arguments against:
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2. Masks become dirty, and could well be a place where germs gather, like the handkerchief you've kept in your pocket every day this week.
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14 Apr
Here's my five-step guide to appearing on TV programmes via Skype or Facetime. We are seeing some very weird shots at the moment, so ...
1. Put the sun BEHIND the camera. I am currently watching a cabinet minister who is sitting in front of a window. Her iPad is having a nervous breakdown, focusing on her net curtain instead of her face. Smartphones can't help it — they always search for light.
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amazon.co.uk/Docooler-Dimma…
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6 Jul 19
Difficult to put this into a short thread, but I'll try.
One of the greatest British bands, Joy Division, had only been professional for six months when their lead singer Ian Curtis took his own life aged 23 in 1980.
Devastated, the remaining members formed New Order.
New Order enjoyed spectacular success in the eighties, most notably with Blue Monday — a dance song with a gothic feel. At the heart of their sound, as with Joy Division, was the bass guitar of Peter Hook.
Over the years, the first two albums by Joy Division — Unknown Pleasures and Closer, released after the death of Ian Curtis — became recognised for what they are: absolute classics of modern British music, defining moments in post-punk. The cover of Unknown Pleasures is iconic.
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