WhatsApp Hack - What to do?
30 May 2025
This week, someone I knew had their WhatsApp hacked and couldn’t access their account for a significant part of the day. Attempting to re-register with the six-digit code also failed because the hacker had exhausted the daily re-registration limit by repeatedly attempting the process. As a precaution, WhatsApp had temporarily blocked further attempts and wouldn’t issue any OTPs for that number until the limit reset.
Here’s what we did to regain control of their account:
We emailed WhatsApp support, but we never received a response. However, someone I know had successfully resolved their family member’s issue by emailing support, and they responded within a few hours. Unfortunately, this didn’t work for us. Their support pages also didn’t provide any helpful information. They kept redirecting us to re-register the device with the six-digit code.
However, chatting with the WhatsApp chatbot proved to be helpful! We explained the problem and provided the mobile number, including the area code. Fortunately, it seems that the chatbot was intelligent and possible checked with the backend through an API call (I am guessing this is what happened). It realised it was a genuine case and released the time lock on the re-registration process. We quickly re-registered the account using the mobile number again, changed the email address (it was changed to be something else) and setup a 2FA PIN.
It’s crucial to inform everyone, especially older individuals, to never share any OTP or code with anyone over any chat. When you’re in doubt, always call that person over a regular phone call.