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11th Dec 2017

WhatsApp users are being warned of a new ‘scam’ doing the rounds

Did you get a warning?

Laura Holland

WhatsApp

WhatsApp users have been warned about a new scam doing the rounds.

It’s been referred to as ‘Martinelli’ and comes in the form of a video that, when opened, will apparently hack your phone and will leave it unfixable. Many groups have been sending around warning messages, which have apparently come from the Gardaí, to avoid the scam.

We’ve heard of these kinds of scams before and sometimes they are more of a rumour than an actual cause for concern.

Jess Kelly from Newstalk told Breaking News that this is, in fact, a hoax. She said:

“This is a hoax, there is no viable threat.

It reminds me of the chain messages I used to get in the post when I was a kid, this is just a modern version of that.”

Either way, never open anything you are unsure about.