Hackers sending WhatsApp wedding invitations to steal data, police warns | Tech Tips
WhatsApp is one handy app when it comes to communicating or sending just about anything. It’s crossed personal use limits and caters to most of our professional and business purposes as well. This also means a wide playground for hackers to scam people despite WhatsApp already offering security features. One WhatsApp scam that has caught the attention of law authorities is wedding invitations being sent out to scam people in India.
WhatsApp wedding invitation scam
- Himachal Pradesh Police have warned people about hackers sending wedding invitations via WhatsApp as APK files, News18 reported.
- Sending wedding invites via WhatsApp has become common and is quite convenient as well. But it looks like this is being manipulated by hackers.
- These wedding invitations disguised as something completely normal contain malware that can give hackers complete control over your phone.
- A file attachment is sent along with the wedding invite and if you download it then a malicious app is installed on your phone giving remote access to hackers.
- Hackers then have access to your data and they can use them to extort money from you.
How to avoid this WhatsApp wedding invitation scam
According to the police officials, these wedding invitations are sent by unknown numbers. So one should first verify the number and sender. Users are also advised not to download APK files from the wedding invitations and in general as well. Wedding invitations are usually large sized so one would naturally not think twice and download them. But it’s best to check once, especially if it’s from an unknown sender. Even from verified senders, you should still check to see if the file looks suspicious or not.
If anyone does fall prey to this scam, they are advised to report the incident immediately through this portal or call the national helpline number 1930.
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