Pune :Â Beware ! Scammers hacking WhatsApp to dupe people
Pune : Beware ! Scammers hacking WhatsApp to dupe people
Over the past few days, the cyber department of the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad police commissionerates have received numerous complaints about criminals hacking WhatsApp accounts and extorting money from contacts on the victims’ lists.
In order to obtain an OTP and access the victim’s WhatsApp account, the hackers route the victim’s calls and messages to a specific number.
A fraud victim said that she got a call from someone claiming to work for a courier company and that their delivery partner was trying to deliver her package but couldn’t get to the address. The caller provided me with a *401* contact number and a cellphone number. After seeing this, she was perplexed, but then she remembered that some private companies might have these numbers for internal communications, so she called on it.
The victim went on to say that she didn’t realize the fraud was going on until her father called her on a different number and questioned why she was requesting money from so many people.
According to an officer at the Pune cyber police station, these complaints have been more frequent lately, and cybercriminals are using this new tactic to trick people. Dialling any such number that appears suspicious should be avoided.
Experts stated that by dialling a specific number or sending a text message in a specific format, cell phone service providers allow users to forward calls and messages to another number. They emphasized that fraudsters have been scamming people with this tactic.
According to a cybercrime expert, scammers employ a variety of methods to access WhatsApp accounts. In contrast to other methods, this one is simpler because the scammers only request that victims forward their calls and messages.
The expert went on to say that if someone is a victim of it, they should stop using internet banking right away and report it to the cyber police. Additionally, the victim needs to reset the passwords on all accounts and emails connected to that phone number.
