Careful! WhatsApp 'friend' could hack into data and blackmail you

IllustrationUday MohiteThe maximum conversations that you have in the day are now most susceptible to data hacking the Mumbai cyber police has revealed In the last two months alone the crime branch has received more than 50 complaints from WhatsApp users about their private videos personal photographs and files being hacked into and misused by extortionistsThe accused according to the police have found an easy way to hack into your WhatsApp account by fraudulently accessing the Security Verification Code of the instant messaging appWe have come across several cases where people have been victimised after their WhatsApp account was hacked into said deputy commissioner of police cyber Akhilesh SinghExplaining the modus operandi of the accused an officer with the cyber crime police said that the hacker first gets hold of his targets cellphone number This is when you are likely to receive a request from them hoping to befriend you Meanwhile the hacker initiates a request to change his WhatsApp number by feeding in your or the victims number using the Change Number option in SettingsThis is when WhatsApp sends a security verification code to the numbers owner mdash in this case you the victim At this point the hacker sells you a story convincing you to share this code with him And when you do he uses it In an instant all your data becomes hisThe hacker restores all your contacts photos and videos from the service providers server into his device by using the Restore option Later he misuses this data at will to blackmail you andor extort money said an assistant inspector from the cyber police stationThe hacker doesnt stop here He uses your identity and reaches out to people in your contact list to fraudulently seek security codes from them too and the chain continues the officer addedThe hackers have a bouquet of false stories to pick from to con users In the case of an aspiring model whose WhatsApp account was hacked the accused posed as a person attached with an event management company He befriended her with the promise of helping her land an assignment and later asked her to share a code that had been sent to her The woman didnt realise that it was the verification security code he was referring to and shared it Her private photos were eventually used to blackmail herSometimes the hacker poses as an NGO worker running an online campaign and picks up a conversation with strangers A senior female executive with a city fivestar was duped of Rs 50000 in similar fashionAnother woman from the northern suburbs was conned after a fraudster hacked into her husbands account He then posed as the husband Asking her to share Rs 25000 because he needed to shop claiming that he had lost his wallet The hackers also use false stories about medical emergencies to obtain the code an officer said The solution is to uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp by registering your number again with the app server In most cases the victims data is already compromised before they approach us another officer saidThe police continue to investigate the above cases and no arrests have yet been madeKeep strong passwordsDCP cyber Akhilesh SinghAccording to DCP cyber Akhilesh Singh people do not understand the importance of having strong passwords One should strengthen their passwords by using a combination of symbols numbers and alphabets