WhatsApp has introduced a new feature called Safety Overview, which allows users to review group information for protection against scams. The feature, which is part of WhatsApp’s ongoing efforts to protect users from scams, has banned over 6.8 lakh accounts linked to scam centres. The Safety Overview provides key information about the group and tips to stay safe from phishing and scams. Notifications stay muted until the user confirms staying in the group. WhatsApp is also testing alerts for chats with unknown contacts.
Scammers frequently use people’s generosity, trust, and desire to assist, typically offering low-risk investment possibilities or easy money. To assist users in avoiding fraud methods, WhatsApp is providing a new safety overview for group messaging. The safety overview will notify you if someone adds you to a group you are unfamiliar with, as well as provide crucial information and safety suggestions. You may leave the group without reading the chat, and if you identify the group, you can see the chat for context. Notifications from the group will be turned off unless you want to stay.
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Scammers may try to contact you on the internet before requesting you to connect with them on private messengers such as WhatsApp. To counteract this method, various ways are being tried to warn individuals to stop before getting involved. For example, they are looking into techniques to warn users when they start a discussion with someone who is not in their contacts, offering more context for informed decision-making.
WhatsApp found and banned approximately 6.8 million accounts related to criminal scam centres in the first half of this year as part of its proactive efforts to protect users from scams, based on investigation findings and enforcement activities.
According to the newsroom post, WhatsApp revealed that OpenAI and other IT titans have blocked fraud attempts connected to a criminal scam centre in Cambodia. The scammers utilised ChatGPT to produce a text message with a link to a WhatsApp chat, and then drove the victim to Telegram to like TikTok videos. They established trust by discussing the target’s prospective earnings and then urged them to deposit funds into a cryptocurrency account as the following assignment. The scammers used ChatGPT to generate the initial text message, which directed the recipient to Telegram.
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Aside from that, it is important to pause, question, and confirm before reacting to suspicious or strange messages. Take the time to analyse if the number is familiar or appears real. Check the request’s logic, whether it appears too good to be true, whether it offers unreasonably high pay, or if it requires immediate response. If someone claims to be a friend or family member, contact them directly, preferably through another means of communication, such as calling them on their phone or using their known phone number.
