International calls on WhatsApp: Company has important message for users – Times of India

WhatsApp users have been complaining about receiving both audio and video calls from unidentified international numbers. These WhatsApp calls are dangerous and it is advisable that users do not answer them. WhatsApp has issued a statement on the same saying that people should block and report suspicious calls.
‘Block and report suspicious calls’
“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,” a WhatsApp spokesperson told Times of India-Gadgets Now in a statement.

Users can also control who sees their personal details and their online presence by using our privacy controls.
“At WhatsApp, the safety of our users is at the core of everything we do and we have devoted efforts to empower users with resources and tools that equip them to safeguard themselves from scams. WhatsApp is an industry leader in preventing abuse, among end-to-end encrypted messaging services and over the years we have made significant product investments and launched user awareness campaigns that empower users to stay safe,” the spokesperson added.

Suspicious calls are potential fraud
Several users have shared screenshots of their call records on social media showing calls coming from phone numbers that start with +62 (Indonesia), +254(Kenya), +251 (Ethiopia) and +60 (Malaysia). Such suspicious calls are potentially fraud and there are high chances that you are being targeted by scammers.
WhatsApp users have reported that when they responded to these calls or messages on WhatsApp, the person on the other offered a job that sounds promising. The scammers pretend to be from a reputed company that is seeking to hire people for part-time roles that can be carried out from home.
In several cases, the scammers gained people’s confidence by initially offering them a small reward for completing certain “task/tasks”. These sometimes include something as simple as liking YouTube videos.

People losing lakhs
Recently, Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath said that his friend lost Rs 5 lakh due to a WhatsApp message. The top executive of the online stock trading platform posted a series of tweets in which he said a person he knew lost around Rs 5,00,000 after falling prey to a part-time job offer fraud.
As a part of this “part-time job” he was told to leave fake reviews for resorts and restaurants in random places, like Peru, in exchange for Rs 30,000.

WhatsApp blocked 4.7 million accounts in March
In a recent report, WhatsApp said that it banned over 4.7 million accounts in the month of March.
“Additionally, we have consistently invested in Artificial Intelligence and other state of the art technology, data scientists and experts, and in processes, in order to keep our users safe on our platform,” the spokesperson added.