Whatsapp Viral "Do you Recognize the State of Palestine?" : Is this a phishing scam?

Hi all,

Today there’s a viral message on WhatsApp asking people to vote to recognize Palestine as a state.

Here’s the message:

I recognized the State of Palestine ✋ Tap here and choose Yes to recognize the State of Palestine — don’t ignore it. Go record your recognition; we want as many recognitions as possible: https://vote.palestiny.com/

So, as usual, I tried to click the link because it looked suspicious.

When you click that link, instructions appear asking you to vote. There are 3 questions in total:

1) Do you recognize the state of Palestine?

2) What percentage is your recognition of the state of Palestine?

3) Confirmation of recognition.

 

Then it gives further instructions to share the message with other people via WhatsApp. The modus operandi is the same as the previous viral scam messages about KFC or McD.

I’ve written about that before >>> Mesej KFC Scam

I tried it, and in the end they asked us to register a phone number. Which is obviously odd. What’s that for? It clearly wants to harvest our personal data. So it’s certain that this “vote Recognition of Palestine as a state” message is a phishing scam.

So, please do not spread this message and link to anyone. Those with less IT knowledge might be fooled. They could have their phone or bank accounts hacked.

You can share this blog post so people can be informed.

General Tips to Spot Phishing Scams

1. Check the link → Fake sites often look similar to real ones but use strange domains.

2. Too urgent or emotional → Messages play on strong emotions (like religion, charity, prizes) to make you act fast.

3. Personal info request → No real NGO/government will ask for your phone number through a random link.

4. Forced sharing → If it demands you to share to continue, that’s a red flag.

Thank you.