WHATSAPP HACKERS TARGET KOLKATA WOMAN, POSE AS HER TO STEAL MONEY FROM FRIENDS AND RELATIVES

WhatsApp scams are rising exponentially and there seems to be no apparent way to stop the scams from happening. With every passing day, more and more innocent people are falling prey to the scammers and losing money. Recently, a woman in Kolkata became the target of WhatsApp scammers. They first hacked her account, gained complete control over it and then messaged her contacts asking them for money. The posed as her and said that she is in trouble so she needs money to travel to Kolkata.

As per TOI report, the 45-year-old woman got in touch with the cyber cell and reported that her WhatsApp account had been compromised. She also revealed that all the people on her contact list have been receiving multiple messages asking for money.

The complainant stated that the Wi-Fi at her home had stopped working over the past weekend. She filed a complaint with her telecom service provider a couple of days later.

On June 5, she received a call on her mobile phone from someone claiming to be an executive from the telecom company. The person asked her to dial a code starting with 401, which is the same code used to forward messages and calls, along with another set of numbers beginning with 67. The woman was assured that this action would resolve her Wi-Fi issues.

However, on Wednesday, she discovered that her WhatsApp account had been compromised. Several people on her contact list received a message from her, stating that she was in trouble and needed money to travel to Odisha.

The Kolkata Police have been receiving numerous complaints about WhatsApp hacks since the pandemic started. Although there was a decrease in these incidents for a few months, they have started to rise again. The police have received at least two formal complaints and several online complaints.

The police also shared the story of another woman from Alipore who fell victim to this scam. The hackers demanded a large sum of money as ransom to return control of her profile. It has been observed that most of the victims of this fraud are women.

The police recently took to Facebook to warn the public about this new threat. The warning message stated, "WhatsApp Getting Hacked! If you receive this kind of message and if any person on your WhatsApp contacts list (even if known) asks you to forward the same, please don't do so. Fraudsters are using this to take control of your WhatsApp account. We have received a few such complaints and seek your cooperation."

2023-06-10T05:44:29Z dg43tfdfdgfd