- By Vikas Yadav
- Sat, 26 Aug 2023 04:49 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
WhatsApp, an instant messaging application, is used across the globe for its ease of communication. Owing to its massive popularity, it is also a den for scammers that dupe people in India. And in the latest move, scammers have forged a method that is actively being deployed. Here are all the details that you should know about this new mechanism.
According to a report from IANS, cybercriminals have started calling users on the app from hoax numbers linked to the United States and impersonate senior officials and teammates, thus adding to the authenticity.
As per the report, current and former employees of the media house the Captial received international calls from numbers that are seemingly from the US and mimic themselves as top executives and urge victims to start chatting.
"Please get back to me as soon as you get my text, thanks," read such messages, followed by names of the renowned executives. These calls seemingly originate from country codes of Atlanta (+1 (404)), Georgia, Chicago (+1 (773)) and other countries.
Likewise, in May 2023, users witnessed a wave of spam calls on their accounts with strange country codes that left a massive group of people vulnerable to financial fraud and personal details leaks.
At that time, these numbers primarily originated from country codes of African and Southeast Asian nations. While these were codes centred around Indonesia, Malaysia, Ethiopia and Vietnam, it does not always represent that these messages originated from the designated places.
Besides this new scam, lucrative fraud offers are on a sharp rise to dupe people in India. According to the report, the company has a user base of around 500 million in India. To stay safe, it is recommended that a user use two-factor authentication on their account. Further, do not engage in monetary exchange with an unknown contact. Lastly, a WhatsApp user must be very cautious while sharing personal details with an unknown user.