Reports of WhatsApp-related cybercrime are surfacing in a growing number of countries, from Zimbabwe and Malaysia to the Cayman Islands, Brazil and India. Users describe hijacked accounts, SIM-swap fraud, malware infections and sudden loss of access to their profiles.
Zimbabwe’s government says it is investigating reports of WhatsApp Business account takeovers and possible breaches involving Meta platforms, including whether users’ financial information was exposed. ICT Minister Tatenda Mavetera said her ministry is working with Meta, the affected mobile operator and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Cyber Crime Division. Investigators are reviewing platform systems, SMS termination partners, advertising accounts and payment arrangements, and responsibility will be assigned only once the evidence supports it.
Econet Wireless and the ZRP have also issued warnings. Criminals are reportedly using fraudulently obtained SIM cards to take over accounts, then messaging the victim’s friends, relatives and business contacts to ask for money. There are no verified national figures on how many Zimbabwean users have been affected.
Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) opened an investigation in September after users reported accounts that were hacked, suspended or locked. According to Bernama, it had logged 92 complaints by September 30 and asked Meta for a full explanation.
On October 1, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service warned that fraudsters were tricking residents into handing over the six-digit codes used to register WhatsApp accounts. With the code, attackers take control, pose as the owner and plead for urgent cash from contacts.
A different threat emerged in June 2026, when Kaspersky researchers reported a malware campaign affecting users in 11 countries and territories: Brazil, India, Singapore, the UK, Mexico, Spain, Taiwan, Australia, Russia, Vietnam and Malaysia. Malaysia had the most observed victims. Attackers sent VBScript files disguised as ordinary documents through WhatsApp Desktop and WhatsApp Web. Opening one on a Windows PC could install remote management tools and give criminals unauthorised access. Malaysia’s national CERT issued an advisory on the campaign.
Experts caution that these cases are not necessarily one coordinated global attack. Zimbabwe and the Cayman Islands involve account hijacking and impersonation, Malaysia’s September probe concerns compromised or suspended accounts, and the June campaign targeted computers through malicious files.
What links them is trust. WhatsApp is central to personal chats, business deals and money transfers, and criminals are exploiting that familiarity through SIM-swapping, social engineering, code theft, impersonation and malware.
How to protect yourself
Turn on two-step verification and set up passkeys.
Never share a verification code with anyone, however convincing they sound.
Check your linked devices regularly and remove any you don’t recognise.
Don’t open unexpected attachments, especially script files posing as documents.
Verify any request for money through a phone call or another channel, even if it appears to come from someone you know.
There is no confirmed evidence of a single worldwide takeover operation. Even so, the pattern shows WhatsApp crime has become an international security issue. Users, technology companies, telecom operators and law enforcement will all need to cooperate to counter it.
