WhatsApp Scam Alert: Retired Teacher Loses Rs. 21 Lakh

The increase in digitalization has paved the way for a rise in scams and cyber fraud. Hackers and scammers often try to dupe users. One common way of cheating WhatsApp users is by sending malicious links. In such an attack, a retired teacher lost Rs. 21 lakh after tapping on a malicious link received on WhatsApp.

WhatsApp Hack Dupes Teacher

As per the police statement, the incident took place in Andhra Pradesh's Annamayya district. A resident of the Redepanaidu Colony of Madanapalle town, Varalakshmi, shared all the information related to the cyber fraud with the police.

The retired teacher mentioned that she was constantly getting messages stating that money has been deducted from her account. So, she decided to connect with the bank officials who informed that her account has been hacked and all the money saved in the account is gone. Following this, the woman lodged a complaint with the cybercrime police on August 20.

Surge In WhatsApp Scams

As per the police, it has become a common scam to cheat users by sharing links on WhatsApp. Via these links, hackers will be able to hack the users' bank accounts and steal money.

A police official gave details about another such incident. He officially stated that cybercriminals recently stole Rs. 12 lakh from the account of a software employee Gyanprakash from the same town. The very next day, they received the complaint regarding the fraud of Rs. 21 lakh.

In addition to this, the Crime Branch of Haryana Police restricted transactions worth more than Rs. 30 lakh. These transactions were initiated via money allegedly stolen from a gaming firm located in Panchkula. The firm's COO lodged a complaint on the cybercrime helpline of a scam of Rs. 35 lakh.

After detecting the fraud, a complaint was made to the cyber helpline number at 1930. The fraudulent amount was obtained by freezing the transaction. This was possible with the immediate information provided by the victim in Golden Hours on the helpline. A complaint has been lodged regarding the same at Cyber ​​Police Station, Panchkula.

To stay safe, it is important not to click on any suspicious links or unnecessary messages that are received on WhatsApp.