If for any reason you changed your phone number and did not delete the associated WhatsApp account, a stranger can read your private WhatsApp messages and also send messages to all your contacts. The vulnerability stems from the practice of wireless carriers recycling old customers' phone numbers to give them to new customers. If you bought a new phone number, if your old number is sold to someone else, all your correspondence starts to fall into that person's WhatsApp application. Including your group chats. After this stage, the new owner of the phone number can send messages to the people in your contact list as they wish, as well as participate in your group chats.

What should you do so that your WhatsApp correspondence does not fall into the hands of others?

Let's come to the WhatsApp side of the subject. The company admits that this may happen in its statements, but says it is extremely rare. According to the company, gaining access to other people's correspondence is not a security flaw in the app, but rather the problem of telecom operators selling outdated numbers.

Users who do not want to protect their personal data and do not want their correspondence to fall into the hands of someone else are advised to delete their accounts completely when changing their phone numbers.