Le logo WhatsApp. Photo d'illustration AFP via Getty Images
BEIRUT — In recent days, a job offer targeting those "over 21" has been sent via WhatsApp messages to people in Lebanon. The offer promises remote work with a daily salary ranging from $30 to $1,600, "deposited in less than five minutes." This message appears to be a scam to target Lebanese people while the country continues to suffer from a severe economic crisis, which started five years ago.
According to various reports from internet users on social media X and people contacted by L'Orient Today, the phone number's country code varies: Azerbaijan, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia... and Israel. The latter has raised concerns, given the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel at the Lebanon-Israel border since October 8.
Jad*, 25, is worried that Israel might be behind these messages. "I immediately blocked the number when I saw the Israeli country code," he said. Similarly, Leila* did not think to block the number. "I didn’t even read the message in full; I deleted it right away. I was afraid it was from Israel," she told our correspondent in southern Lebanon, Mountasser Abdallah.
"I was concerned that I might be linked to espionage organizations," she added, noting that Lebanon's 1955 law boycotting Israel prohibits individuals or entities from contacting Israelis or residents of Israel.
'Don't respond to the messages'
Reacting to the recurrence of these messages among the public, the General Security issued a statement on Tuesday advising citizens not to respond to such messages and to block the number, warning of "recent scam attempts targeting military personnel and civilians," without specifying the source of the messages. The General Security did not respond to our inquiries.
"Everything suggests that this message is a scam. The goal and source need to be understood. Authorities should investigate," said Roland Abi Najem, head of Revotips and a cybersecurity expert. Neither the army nor the Internal Security Forces responded to our inquiries within the given time frame. The army simply referred to the General Security’s statement.
"I’m not saying it’s not Israel, but anyone could use a number with a code from another country. It’s hard to know who is behind it because we can create numbers with foreign country codes without issue, particularly with electronic SIMs," explained Roland Abi Najem.
In the message, the sender asks recipients to message the business offering the job on WhatsApp. Laetitia* did this and was directed to a private conversation—using the number from the forwarded message—before stopping there.
"One of the goals might be to infiltrate phones and gather information after clicking on a link," suggests Roland Abi Najem. "I doubt this is a recruitment method used by Israeli intelligence services. They wouldn’t be so straightforward. Generally, these aren’t messages sent randomly," he added. Laetitia is mainly concerned about how they obtained her number.
"Israel is capable of infiltrating our network and spying on us," warned Imad Kreidiyé, director of the public telecommunications and internet provider Ogero, in an interview with local channel al-Jadeed last month. He added that insufficient funding hampers network maintenance operations, which are "dilapidated and obsolete," preventing the enhancement of cybersecurity. "With such a government and state, it’s not difficult to obtain information on Lebanese people. We know that Lebanese websites are infiltrated," the cybersecurity expert lamented.
