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Beware of Eliska!

WhatsApp Scam Involving Ballerina Leads to Account Theft

A young girl with dark, tied-up hair dances in a bright living room. She wears a pink ballet dress with a tulle skirt and matching ballet shoes. One arm is raised above her head, while the other is extended to the side. In the background, there is a gray sofa and a wooden dresser.
Criminals Attempt to Access WhatsApp Accounts With Fake Vote for Ballerina Eliska (Stock Photo) Photo: Getty Images
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October 21, 2026, 1:17 pm | Read time: 3 minutes

In the WhatsApp scam involving ballerina Eliska, criminals use a seemingly harmless vote as bait. Behind the scheme is so-called Ghost Pairing, which allows perpetrators to take over other people’s WhatsApp accounts.

The message arrives via WhatsApp. It asks you to vote for a girl named Eliska, who is said to be the daughter of friends and could win a free dance class. The Cologne police warned about this example on September 17, 2026. At that time, the criminal police were handling current cases of the scam known as “Ghost Pairing.” The particularly tricky part is that the message can come from an already compromised WhatsApp account, making it appear to be from a known contact.

Those who follow the request are asked to open a link or scan a QR code and then confirm a device pairing. According to “Futurezone”, similar cases with other names were documented in August and September 2026. The linked pages pretend to be a vote where the vote is confirmed via WhatsApp. In reality, this step leads to the messenger’s linking process.

Ghost Pairing Gives Criminals Access

In this so-called Ghost Pairing, the perpetrators misuse the regular WhatsApp function for linking additional devices. By confirming the supposed vote, you can link your own WhatsApp account to a device belonging to the criminals. According to Cologne police, the perpetrators can then read or delete messages and chat with the victim’s contacts in their name.

Screenshot of a WhatsApp message in dark mode. The sender asks to vote for a friend's daughter named Sophie in a school competition and to forward the message. Below is the green underlined link 'https://dancingschool.club'. The message was sent at 1:35 PM.
In the ballerina scam, criminals use a seemingly harmless WhatsApp vote to gain access to other accounts

The unauthorized access may not be immediately noticeable. WhatsApp continues to function normally on the victim’s smartphone, even though another device is connected. This allows the criminals to continue the scam. They can, for example, message contacts and ask for a transfer.

How to Detect Unauthorized Access

The Cologne police advise against clicking on unknown links or scanning QR codes whose purpose is not clear. Pairing codes or device links should only be confirmed if the process was initiated by the user. If an unusual request comes from friends or relatives, the police recommend calling the person directly to verify the message.

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Whether an unknown device is already connected can be checked in WhatsApp under “Profile” and “Linked Devices,” according to the police. An unknown device should be immediately logged out there. If damage has already occurred due to the scam, the police recommend filing a report.

This article is a machine translation of the original German version of TECHBOOK and has been reviewed for accuracy and quality by a native speaker. For feedback, please contact us at info@techbook.de.

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