Possible 'risks' using 'whatapp' to contact.

[Slow grinder]

Being an Old bloke and not very Techno savvy... I see that more WG's are asking to be contacted by 'Whatsapp', especially on Viva Street... If I download the app so that I can keep in contact with my Grandchildren (which they keep asking me to), are there any potential risks or am I able to download off my Punting 'Burner' phone.

[fr0zen2]

If your second phone supports it then use that?

If not, you could always load up the second sim on the primary phone, download whatsapp business, register the number to that, then swap back to the normal sim. And now you have two instances of whatsapp - one for personal and the other for, well, 'business'.

[jonnw16]

Indeed, if you have a punting phone and it supports WhatsApp there is no problem installing it to contact SPs. Let it access your contacts on that phone, but don't associate any email address you may have with it.

Even if you had WhatsApp on your "normal" phone the major problem comes if you have people you are accountable to, because of the way it shows your activity, although I believe that can be disabled ("why were you online on WhatsApp at 4 o'clock this morning?").

[Slow grinder]

Fr0zen2 and johnw16....thanks lads... so just to confirm,by downloading 'whatsapp' on my 'burner' there's no traceability back to me... this might sound weird or whatever but after all these years of punting (40) and going from numbers in telephone boxes,Contact mags to AW and Viva..this 'Whatsapp' thingy is so bizzare to me and especially as my family use 'whatsapp' to contact me...thanks again lads.

[lillythesavage]

Fr0zen2 and johnw16....thanks lads... so just to confirm,by downloading 'whatsapp' on my 'burner' there's no traceability back to me... this might sound weird or whatever but after all these years of punting (40) and going from numbers in telephone boxes,Contact mags to AW and Viva..this 'Whatsapp' thingy is so bizzare to me and especially as my family use 'whatsapp' to contact me...thanks again lads.

Does not seem it is a problem for you, but make sure you have no other social media associated with the number you use. It will link you to all sorts if you have.

[donnybob]

I use whats app a lot if you put in a WGs number  and they are on there you can normally see a more normal picture on their profile.

But I would like to know how to disable or hide when you were last online on the app

[Moby Dick]

I use whats app a lot if you put in a WGs number  and they are on there you can normally see a more normal picture on their profile.

But I would like to know how to disable or hide when you were last online on the app

Settings / Account / Privacy / Last Seen / Nobody

You can also turn off read receipts, but you won’t get acknowledgment of your messages being read.

[Lou2019]

I use whats app a lot if you put in a WGs number  and they are on there you can normally see a more normal picture on their profile.

But I would like to know how to disable or hide when you were last online on the app

settings
account
privacy
last seen - set it to nobody

[donnybob]

settings
account
privacy
last seen - set it to nobody

Thank you, that was really easy

[nckbob]

If you use Facebook or other social media which can link to a phone number be very careful (especially with WhatsApp as its owned by Facebook. If you don't have a second phone it's likely that your Facebook (or insta if you have that) with already to anyone you have contact with via Facebook (or even just if the sp adds you to their contacts)

[Sunny]

Download WhatsApp business app you can use 2 WhatsApp apps on 1 phone.

But you need an old phone and SIM card to register that number and just make up a business name S LTD etc

[fudi_maar]

On your punting phone,
- download Wattsapp, but disable Facebook and Insta (you cannot actually remove either from what I remember).
- do not use a face photo as your profile photo on  Wattsap - use something generic like a mountain, a river, or whatever
- do not have any contacts on your punting phone which are your family/friends in real life. The only contacts here should be WG's.
- do not logon on your google drive account on this phone (if you have one)
- keep punting phone on very short screen-lock timing, like 30 seconds (in case you leave it lying around the missus, kids etc see it)
- regularly delete all Wattsapp messages (settings --> More --> Clear chat) as an extra safety measure

[Jackson4]

Make sure you have a different addressbook too on your punter phone, otherwise all your contacts will be able to see your other Whatsapp account.

Also, if it's Android, try to use a different Google account as information regularly syncs, and could be available to see on your everyday phone.

[scutty brown]

While some girls genuinely use WhatsApp to save money on comms, there are a couple of points to note

1) a lot of scammers use WhatsApp to hide their identities - deposit scammers, nigerian fake investment scammers, blackmailers
2) traffickers like WhatsApp because it makes phone intercepts impossible, handset tracking impossible, and location tracking impossible.  More and more dodgy pimps are using it in favour of texts.

Not every case, not every girl is using it to hide. But.........if you do get a girl who only uses WhatsApp for comms then look for the scam, look for what she's hiding. Is she trafficked?

[punjabipunter]

If you have a recent Samsung phone, you should be able to use Secure Folder. Allows you to have a separate instance of WhatsApp hidden in a folder which is password protected and can be hidden if required. As well as WhatsApp, gives you a separate contacts folders so you can keep your regular and punting contacts apart!!

[pa5151]

There will always be traceability depends how far you want to go with it.

Random sim from a street corner with a cash top up -> sure who ever you're contacting won't know who you are.

Whatsapp does however store ip addresses, geographical locations and various other data. Also the messages are encrypted, but Facebook who own Whatsapp are sitting on the encryption keys and can read the messages for fun if they wanted to or are requested by the authorities to do so. Shouldn't really be a concern though for a regular punter.

Simplest way to do it is to get a burner android phone. Create a new Google account. Install Whatsapp using the sim from street corner with cash top up (if you don't want it on your credit card). Turn off Google sync for whatsapp and contacts. You could go further and not create a google account at all and install the Whatsapp apk (just by searching for it on google).

One other trick is if you only need a whatsapp account and not the actual phone number all you have to do is buy a sim card and no need to top up. Topping up isn't necessary to get the verification whatsapp text to create the account.

[j_181]

Although you can't have two whatsapp accounts on the same device, you CAN have one whatsapp account and one whatsapp business account (and they are seperate apps). I use the Hushed app to get a burner number that is independent of my sim, and can be recycled at will, then use my Hushed number for whatsapp business (they are seperate apps so no unexpected notifications etc)

If I need to recycle my Hushed number because of e.g. unsolicited messages from a WG, malicious ClientEye report, etc, then the whatsapp business can just be migrated to the new Hushed number with the press of a button. Whatsapp business is free, Hushed is subscription based. I pay 11.99 for 90 days, but I think there is a 1-year option too. Works really well, and no-one that you communicate with can tell that you aren't using a standard whatsapp account.

This is of course only relevant for those of us who can conduct our punting business on the same device as our personal lives.

[Cullen]

I don't have WhatsApp installed, and have no intention to either. Quite apart from not wanting certain people in my civvy life to be able to contact/bother me at will, the thought of using it to contact WGs who might then have access to my other contacts on my phone horrifies me. I don't have a burner phone and wouldn't trust myself to set the parameters on the app properly to ensure the appropriate privacy.

I'm aware that some WGs are referring to use this as a means of comms, but has it ever been a deal-breaker? Hopefully we're not entering an age whereby a text/email/phone call is deemed not acceptable.

[Moby Dick]

I don't have WhatsApp installed, and have no intention to either. Quite apart from not wanting certain people in my civvy life to be able to contact/bother me at will, the thought of using it to contact WGs who might then have access to my other contacts on my phone horrifies me. I don't have a burner phone and wouldn't trust myself to set the parameters on the app properly to ensure the appropriate privacy.

I'm aware that some WGs are referring to use this as a means of comms, but has it ever been a deal-breaker? Hopefully we're not entering an age whereby a text/email/phone call is deemed not acceptable.

You can text/message/phone/video call using WhatsApp.
The advantage is that it don’t cost anything if you have a wifi connection.
If you have a punting phone then I don’t see any discretional issues.
My profile pic

Hidden Image/Members Only

[themightyimp]

If you have a OnePlus phone you can add another user (like a different windows logon) by swiping from the top and selecting the little profile photo. You can then use another phone to get the WhatsApp verification code. One phone two separate identities.

[Cullen]

You can text/message/phone/video call using WhatsApp.
The advantage is that it don’t cost anything if you have a wifi connection.
If you have a punting phone then I don’t see any discretional issues.
My profile pic

Hidden Image/Members Only

I'm sure it has benefits, but the thing is, I currently get by just fine without a punting phone *touch wood* and would rather not have to get, use and carry one around just because some WGs like using WhatsApp as their preferred means of comms and won't operate without it. I'll try to carry on with my civvy-style one phone and see how things pan out.