Cyber fraud is happening on WhatsApp in this way, many people lost lakhs of rupees, know how to stay safe.

Whatsapp Cyber Fraud: WhatsApp is being used by more than 3 billion users worldwide today, out of which about 50 crore are active in India.

WhatsApp is being used by more than 3 billion users worldwide today, out of which about 50 crore are active in India. Although this popular messaging app has made it an easy way to connect with people, but now it is also becoming a means of spreading fraud for cyber criminals. By now you must have heard that scammers cheat people through WhatsApp calls, fake links or fake messages. But now they are adopting a new and dangerous technique, through image files.

Recently a case came to light from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, in which a 28-year-old youth downloaded a normal looking photo on WhatsApp and within a short time about Rs 2 lakh disappeared from his bank account. Now the question is how can this happen with a photo?

Steganography is a technique through which data is hidden within a media file (such as photo, video, audio etc.). In this, the data is hidden in that part of the file which is hidden from our eyes but is technically active.

Now hackers are using this technique to send malware through image forwards on WhatsApp. This malware is hidden in files of common formats like JPG, PNG, MP3 or MP4, which look absolutely normal. But the dangerous code hidden inside these files gets installed in your phone as soon as you download or open the file.

Once the malware is activated, it can access sensitive information of your device such as saved passwords, OTP, banking details. The special thing is that these malware are not like traditional phishing links, due to which it is very difficult to detect them and many times even the antivirus software of the mobile is not able to catch them.

In the above case, the youth downloaded an image received on WhatsApp with an intelligence malware attached to it. This malware got active in the background, obtained important information from the phone and the scammer withdrew money from the bank without permission.

Platforms like WhatsApp are increasing security at their level, but users also need to be alert. Some important precautions are given below. Go to Storage and Data in WhatsApp settings and turn off Media Auto-Download. This will prevent any file from being saved in the phone without your knowledge.

If a photo or video comes from an unknown number, do not download or open it. If the user looks suspicious, block and report him immediately. Go to group settings and set the Who can add me to groups option to My Contacts so that no unknown person can add you to a suspicious group. Never share information like OTP, banking details on WhatsApp, even if the message has come in the name of someone you know. Confirm the information through some other means.