How to prevent your WhatsApp from being cloned - Learn how to avoid it

Do you know how to prevent your WhatsApp from being cloned? You should know that it is not right to intrude into another person's privacy without their consent; however, it can be done by people with bad intentions. One of the most common methods in recent years is through the cloning of the victim's WhatsApp.

It is relatively easy to find websites or applications that allow you to clone a person's WhatsApp. Usually these actions are carried out to cause damage to the victim's image, or to carry out fraudulent offences. However, these programmes can be turned against the user.

Below, we will tell you about the most common ways in which WhatsApp accounts are cloned, and explain how to avoid becoming a victim of this malpractice.

How does WhatsApp cloning work?

There are two common ways to track or clone a WhatsApp account; the first is to duplicate the application on another device; this method usually involves several third-party applications and programmes that replicate content from one mobile phone to another, using the internet as a bridge.

However, this method is rarely used because of its reliability, as many of these applications ask for permission to access certain applications within the mobile phone, and it is at this point that the use of these applications can backfire.

In order to carry out this method, it is necessary for the hacker to have access to the phone with the original WhatsApp for a few minutes, otherwise he will not be able to authorise the necessary application permissions, i.e. he will not be able to clone the victim's WhatsApp.

It is possible to clone WhatsApp

The second way to clone a WhatsApp account is by changing the SIM. To carry out this procedure, the offender must have the help of the victim's telephone operator; this help may be unintentional, causing the telephone operators to fall into a deception and unwittingly collaborate in the crime.

The procedure is to deactivate the victim's SIM card and reactivate it in a new SIM chip in the hands of the offender.

By having control of the victim's phone number, it is easy to gain access to their WhatsApp account, as they only need to download the application on a smartphone to be able to send messages from the victim's WhatsApp; impersonating the victim and carrying out harmful or criminal actions.

How to prevent your WhatsApp from being cloned

First of all, you need to make sure that your WhatsApp is protected from access by third parties. To do this, you need to enable two-step authentication; this way, if someone tries to clone your WhatsApp, you will receive an access notification, which will indicate that an attempt has been made to access your account from another device.

To activate this function, you must go to the WhatsApp settings and select the option "Account > Verification in XNUMX steps > Activate"; in this way, you must set a 6-digit password that only you should know, this password will allow you to protect your account. As a general recommendation, you should avoid numbers in sequences (123) or birthdays; because they are usually the first passwords that attackers try, and the idea is not to make it easy for criminals.

Another option available to protect your WhatsApp account is to install applications that set passwords to other applications in order to gain access. There are several options in the Google Play Store. Most of these apps work in the same way, placing the selected app in a "secure folder" where, even if someone discovers the password to your phone, they will still have to guess the password to the app protecting WhatsApp.

What to do if your WhatsApp is cloned

WhatsApp does not allow access from two different devices to the same account; when this connection occurs, WhatsApp disconnects the first connection and gives you access to the second connection; this helps determine when your account was cloned.

If this happens, the application will display a message indicating that the phone you are using could not be verified; and that another phone number is linked to another mobile device.

However, if you use WhatsApp Web, you can keep different devices connected at the same time. To find out how to prevent your WhatsApp from being cloned and resolve this issue, you can access WhatsApp from your mobile phone, go to menu > Linked Devices > Choose session > Logout. This will close the open sessions on the selected device; you can also choose to close all open sessions.

SIM change

If you are absolutely sure that your number was swapped to another SIM, you should call your phone operator and report your phone number for theft or robbery; this way, whoever has the chip with your cloned number on it will not be able to do anything with it.

The next step is to completely disable your WhatsApp account; to do this you should send an email to [email protected]where the subject of the email should be: Lost / Stolen: Deactivate my account.

The message that must accompany this email must reflect your telephone number under the international standard (Example: +54-9-11-0000-0000) and can briefly explain the situation that is leading you to want to cancel your account. After a reasonable period of time, the account linked to the telephone number will be deactivated.

If you have a backup on your mobile phone, or in the cloud, you can recover your conversations. The account can be reactivated after 30 days; after this time, the account will be permanently deleted.

Conclusion

It is always good to keep your phone in sight, do not give it to strangers to handle; nor should it be left in view of anyone else, your phone is a personal tool that should be with you at all times.

Now that you know how to prevent your WhatsApp from being cloned, put these recommendations into practice and keep your mobile phone close to you at all times. We recommend you to read more topics in our blog, which may be useful for you; such as: Financial Domination o Digital and Face-to-Face Security.