Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar on Wednesday advised general public to remain cautious and follow precautionary measures to deal with fraudsters using fake WhatsApp display picture to impersonate as high profile government officers or dignitaries.
The IGP in a tweet also shared fake WhatsApp Display Picture(DP) advisory issued by Cyber police Kashmir regarding impersonating of fraudsters as high profile Government Officers or Dignitaries.
The modus operandi of fraudster, the advisory states is that the fraudsters procure photo of the Government Officers from open source internet and create whatsapp account on virtual number or on fake SIM card.
They upload Government Officer’ photo as display picture on the whatsapp number and sends message to people demanding financial or administrative favours, the advisory reads, according to GNS.
They ask users to transfer money or purchase online gift vouchers.
As part of the precautionary measures, people have been advised not to reply the messages received from unknown Whatsapp users, transfer money or purchase online gift vouchers or share banking details like Credit card/Debit Card , OTP, CW No. or any password.
The people have been advised against installing any remote access app or click on any suspicious link.
They have been advised also to secure whatsapp account by enabling two factor verification available in whtasapp settings. (GNS)