A number of journalists and human rights defenders in Sri Lanka has reported a ‘phishing attack’ on their WhatsApp, after they received messaged asking for a six-digit verification code allowing access to their accounts.

Civic media organisation ‘Groundviews’ reported on their Facebook, ‘It was brought to our attention that the mobile number +94776#####7 has sent out messages to a number of individuals asking them in turn to a 6-digit authentication code.

The registered owner of this number is unaware of these messages and not the sender. The first recipients, in as much as can be determined, seem to be those who have registered their mobile number with one or many groups setup and used by journalists in Sri Lanka and/or are part of one of the Groundviews’ WhatsApp groups.’

‘Groundviews’ warned that messages from ANY mobile number asking for the two-factor authentication code of WhatsApp needs to be treated with utmost care and caution and that links sent on any vector of communication, from email to Facebook Messenger to SMS to even Signal should not be clicked, also urging users to read  https://faq.whatsapp.com/…/ver…/using-two-step-verification/ for guidance and warnings.