Safer Internet Day: How to spot scams on WhatsApp, report contact – Times of India

Safer Internet Day will be celebrated on February 7 and it will be the 20th edition of the campaign. The day is organised by Insafe to promote safer as well as more responsible use of online and offline technology. At a time when mobile phones are used as a leading way to scam those who are not technologically sound, people are required to be more vigilant in order to keep themselves safe.
One of the most used apps for an online scam is Whatsapp. Although there are a number of security and privacy measures, people still fall for fraud on the app. Here are a few red flags
WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption makes it a relatively secure messaging service, and can prevent hackers from reading your conversations. However, WhatsApp users are still at risk of fraud that includes victims’ participation.
Here are a few ways users can spot a scam and report that account:
– In some WhatsApp scams, cybercriminals send luring messages to trick people into sharing personal or financial information, such as a password, credit card number or Social Security number. They send a malicious link, which resembles one from a legit company, asking you to click it. If you click it, the malicious link will infect your phone and access your data.
It is to be noted that a cybercriminal may also impersonate a friend so that you believe what he’s asking you to do. Once scammers steal your information, they can access users’ email, banking or social media accounts.
– If any message or caller asks you to take immediate action, chances are that the person on the other side is a fraud. Such texts are often alarming and include threats like blocking of bank accounts, and legal action, among others.
– If you notice fraud messages carefully, you often find grammatical errors or spelling mistakes. Communication from legitimate businesses, such as banks, government departments, are unlikely to have spelling mistakes. If you find a message with grammatical mistakes, and threats and warnings, it is most likely a scam. Such messages usually come from unknown numbers.
– Messages with prizes, giveaways and discounts in which you didn’t participate usually lead to scams.

Here’s how you can report an account
If you feel you are being scammed or targeted by a fraudster, you can report and block that number.
To block a contact, open WhatsApp, tap More options > Settings.
Tap Privacy > Blocked contacts.
Tap Add.
Search for or select the contact you want to block.
Tap BLOCK to only block the account, or REPORT AND BLOCK, which will report and block the number.
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