Recently an incident has come to light, in which Kolkata Police Cyber Cell has given an important warning for WhatsApp users. The police issued the advisory following a complaint by a city-based student and businessman. This cyber fraud started with impersonation on Facebook.
These cyber criminals hacked the victims' Facebook profiles and contacted people on their friends list through Messenger. In these cases, scammers tried to swindle users' contacts by pretending to run yoga classes. Let us tell you that many such scams came to light in the city around World Yoga Day on June 21.
How the scam works
The fraudsters contact people in the victim's contact list and ask them to join yoga classes organized by them. A link is sent and the recipient is asked to click it. On clicking the link, the contacts are asked to share a six-digit OTP code.
An investigating officer said that once the link is clicked and the OTP is shared, the accused can access the WhatsApp number from another phone. Since this OTP is a WhatsApp verification code. WhatsApp accounts are linked to a phone number on a device. When hackers try to link them with themselves, they try to do it through a verification code. Users lose access to their WhatsApp accounts by sharing this code with fraudsters.
Whatsapp verification code scam
In this particular modus operandi, the scammers used yoga classes as an excuse to obtain the codes. They request the victim to forward or tell them the code to join the classes. This code is not a normal OTP but is a WhatsApp verification code.
What do criminals do with hacked WhatsApp accounts?
The criminals then impersonate the victim's account and request money from their contacts for an emergency, promising to repay it later. They can also use the hacked account for criminal activities. In some such cases, investigators said the accused forced their victims to invest in crypto-currency to regain access to their WhatsApp accounts.
Incident in Kolkata
Kolkata Police had recently warned people about these types of hacks through their Facebook page. Whatsapp is getting hacked! If you receive this type of message and if anyone in your WhatsApp contact list (even if known) asks you to forward it, please do not do so. Fraudsters are using this to take control of your WhatsApp account. We have received some such complaints and seek your cooperation.
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