Rise in unsolicited calls and messages on WhatsApp

In the latest scam, Bengalureans are being contacted by unknown international numbers

Many WhatsApp users in India have been receiving relentless calls and messages from unknown international phone numbers promising part-time jobs and flats.

The video and voice calls, and texts are typically from numbers with ISD codes like +251 (Ethiopia), +60 (Malaysia), +62 (Indonesia), +254 (Kenya), and +84 (Vietnam), Bengalureans told Metrolife. Most said the frequency has increased over the past three weeks.

For Muruvanda Spoorthi Seethamma, the spamming started two weeks ago. “I got three missed calls from what I have now figured is an Indonesian number in two minutes. Realising these were spam calls, I alerted my family and told them not to answer these calls. To my shock, my mother, sister, brother-in-law and cousins told me they had got calls from the same ISD code on the same day,” Spoorthi, who handles business operations at a tech firm, said.

Communications professional Chiththarthan Nagarajan “ignores these calls, or puts his phone on silent mode, or flags these numbers on Reddit”. “I am paranoid about answering these calls or clicking any links even by mistake. My fear is that the scammer may gain remote access of my phone, and steal details about my clients and my bank account,” he explains.

Khushboo Ramnane dubs this as a breach of privacy. She has been blocking these numbers and deleting unsolicited messages, and is mulling over getting a different SIM card for personal use, and another for shopping. “Lately, I started shopping via Instagram and WhatsApp, for which we use phone numbers to register. Could my number be stolen?” Ramnane, who does content marketing, surmised.

Sowmya Rajaram fears the worst is yet to come. The writer and editor shares, “With India not having a data protection law and our phone numbers becoming public property for tele callers, restaurants and other service providers, this was inevitable. We need to stop making phone number opt-ins compulsory everywhere. And WhatsApp needs to have an option to allow only your contacts to call you.”

Call 112

Be doubly cautious of anybody asking for your personal and financial credentials, S D Sharanappa, joint commissioner of police (crime), Bengaluru, urges. Call 112 if you have lost money.

Apply privacy controls
Over email, the WhatsApp India team shared they apply spam detection technology to spot and take action on suspicious accounts. They banned over 47 lakh Indian (+91) accounts in March 2023. Details on how to block and report suspicious accounts, how to control who sees your personal details and online presence, how to add twostep verification and more can be found under the Safety and Privacy tabs on whatsapp.com, or on the app. You can write to the WhatsApp team via Settings > Help> Contact Us, or to their grievance officer in India at grievance_officer_wa@ support. whatsapp.com