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Gardian

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I’ve been told by a friend this evening that a video is to be launched tomorrow in Whatsapp called ‘Martinelli’.

If you receive a message to update ‘Whatsapp Gold’, do not open it. The virus will zap your phone and nothing you can do will fix it.

The ‘news’ has apparently been on UK News today, so may not be new info for a lot of you.

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Unfortunately, Gardian, your friend has been sucked in by a hoax.

https://www.hoax-slayer.net/whatsapp-gold-and-martinelli-how-a-valid-warning-got-mixed-up-with-a-silly-hoax/

This has been doing the rounds for some while. Always worth warning people just in case, but always worth checking to see what the wider internet might have to say.
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From Sophos .. my mobile AV ..

Here’s a WhatsApp chain letter that’s been making the rounds:

Unfortunately, it’s only half rubbish. It’s a cocktail of one shot of bogus and one shot of authentic “yikes!” …It includes:

A fictional threat: the “martinelli” video, supposedly carrying virus and mayhem.

A real threat: WhatsApp Gold, a supposedly premium service offered by WhatsApp that’s anything but.

So .. in the inimitable words of the sergeant in the US police series : .?. Blues : be careful out there.
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Interesting, pomme, but:

I've used WhatsApp for many years now and not once seen an advert on it, and

How does one persuade one's entire contact list to move away from WhatsApp so one can contact them on another platform?

Have just had to spend a few months using WeChat because I've been in touch with a relative in China and there's no alternative, and the experience was painful.
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You may not have seen any yet, but just search for "whatsapp adverts 2019" and you will see Facebook (the Whatsapp owner) will start doing so on the status screen this year.

Unfortunately there is no easy way of getting contacts to switch to Signal except by sending them a message from Signal.
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I'm optimistic then. I've managed to largely eliminate ads on here, both on android and iOS, so if I can do the same with WhatsApp (If I ever see any ads in the first place) it'll be fine.

It would be nice if more companies gave the choice of paying a small fee to be ad-free like Amazon do when you buy a kindle. Unlikely, but one can hope..
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I've got amaaaazingly !!!! good at ignoring adverts - completely, even on my kindle.  Only use what's app for one person as it seems it is the only way she can receive any communications from me - email never works with her for some unknown reason ....

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