Reports of people in India getting fraudelent calls through WhatsApp are increasing day by day. People have been getting voice as well as video calls from random international numbers and scammers are targetting innocent citizens with their malicious intentions. In order to take action against such phony numbers, the government of India has asked WhatsApp to ban accounts that are engaging in fraudulent activites.
Union telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, during the launch of the Department of Telecom’s Sanchar Saathi website, said that over 36 lakh WhatsApp accounts have been banned in India and that the company is cooperating to ensure people’s safety.
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Government tells WhatsApp to block accounts
During the launch, Union telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was asked about the government’s efforts to curb WhatsApp call scam cases rising in the country.
Responding to the question, he said, “We have actively engaged with WhatsApp and they have agreed that customer safety is most important. All the OTT platforms are actively cooperating to deregister the users which have been detected as fraud users.”
He also added that as many as 36 lakh phone numbers have been disconnected for fraud and their WhatsApp accounts have also been banned.
WhatsApp, in a statement, thanked the minister for acknowledging their efforts to ensure users’ safety.
The statement read, “We are grateful for the minister’s acknowledgment of WhatsApp’s continuous commitment to user safety. We have been actively engaging with the government to consistently ensure a safe and secure user experience, including weeding out bad-actors from the platform.”
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WhatsApp asks users to block and report suspicious calls
Earlier, WhatsApp had asked users to block and report suspicious calls so that appropriate action could be taken against them.
A WhatsApp spokesperson, in a statement, said, “Blocking and Reporting suspicious messages/ calls is an important step to effectively combat scams and when users receive calls from unknown international or domestic phone numbers, WhatsApp provides a convenient way to block and report suspicious accounts. It’s important to report these accounts to WhatsApp so that we can take the required action against and ban them from the platform. Users can also control who sees their personal details and their online presence by using our privacy controls. Keeping your personal details visible to only your contacts can help safeguard your account against bad actors.”
About the rising scams
Talking about the scam that is targetting people, several WhatsApp users reported getting calls from different countries like Ethiopia (+251), Malaysia (+60), Indonesia (+62), Kenya (+254), Vietnam (+84) and others. Some users also reported getting messages that tried luring them with attractive part-time job offers as well as video calls from unknown numbers.
It is to be noted that just because a call was from an international number doesn’t mean that the person who is making the call is present in a different country. WhatsApp calls are transmitted via the internet and anybody can call from an international number via WhatsApp, even though they are sitting in the same city as you.
