HIGHLIGHTS
* There’s a sudden spike in WhatsApp calls and messages from unknown international numbers.
* These are clearly scammers luring people with work from home opportunities.
* One WhatsApp user actually followed the process to see what they’re offering.
A message appears on your WhatsApp with a number that looks like +50378865524 or +1 226 870 5309. The messenger introduces herself as Shivani from Info Edge limited Or Elisa who calls herself an HR from A & B Agency India, marketing department.
The message states that by spending 3 to 5 minutes online and even without paying a single penny as joining fee, you can make a quick income of Rs 500 to 10,000 a day.
Who would not want to use this opportunity? But there is a very old saying that goes — there is no free meal or free money.
There’s a new scam making the rounds in the market – ‘Make instant money by liking YouTube videos.’
Making videos for social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook and others has become a major source of income for many digital startups and even individuals. Series of unknown numbers are sending bulk messages to people offering them quick money.
Maharashtra Akola District President Rahbar Sheikh also received a similar message from a United States number offering them to make more than 1000 rupees per day by increasing subscribers on YouTube. Sheikh says that the company offered him a part-time job and he blocked the number when he realised it’s a scam.
A similar message on WhatsApp was received by Delhi resident Sahil where he was offered to make more than Rs 3000 per day. Sahil was aware enough to understand it was a scam and he blocked the number.
Not just ordinary people but these random messages have even reached bureaucrats and top executives in the union government. The director general of National Testing House which is part of the union food and consumer affair ministry, Dr Alok Kumar Shrivastava, is also a victim.
Shrivastava says that not only did he receive the message on WhatsApp to make quick money by liking YouTube videos but that his photo was also misused for digital fraud.
India Today Journalist Ashutosh Mishra received this scam message on WhatsApp from three different numbers. We began our investigation in this quick money offer by interacting with those numbers.
A girl introduced herself as Shivani from a WhatsApp number +503 7886 5524 and said she works in the human resource department of Info Edge Ltd. Shivani offered Ashutosh Mishra a part-time job involving liking and subscribing to YouTube videos.
She asked Mishra to like videos and subscribe to a channel and send a screenshot of the job done on WhatsApp. We completed the task and set the screenshot to the WhatsApp number and within minutes, Shivani asked for his Telegram account. The next job was to be scheduled there.
WhatsApp users have been reporting spam calls from international numbers. Some users receive calls, and even messages through which scammers are reaching out to them with work from home opportunities.
One WhatsApp user decided to play along with the scammer, and see what the fuss is all about.
This WhatsApp user Vedant G. who goes by the username VedVery5 on Twitter shared his experience with one of the scammers. The conversation starts with this woman called Georgina contacting him and offering Rs 150 for liking three YouTube videos.
He follows the procedure and even ends up receiving the money. It doesn’t end here though.
He is later added to a Telegram group with more people and they’re asked to do 20 tasks for Rs 50 each. One of the tasks required people to send them money which would be returned with an interest.
Some people actually ended up giving money, and when this happened they would be immediately kicked out of the group.
Vedant was quick enough to notice that a bot was removing the alerts that popped up whenever someone was kicked out of the group. The Telegram group and WhatsApp chats were however both deleted when he went offline for a few hours.
The initial process of actually paying people is clearly to lure them into earning more money. Afterall, who wouldn’t be happy to earn free money by simply liking YouTube videos. The real scam takes place in the Telegram group and some people unfortunately fall prey to it.
It’s safe to say that these scammers are on a rise considering the sudden spike in spam calls and messages on WhatsApp. What users can do is be aware of such unknown international numbers, and to report and block them on WhatsApp.
There’s also an in-app spam detection technology that detects any abnormal behaviour. If this doesn’t work then users can contact WhatsApp’s grievance officer in India.
“We have a grievance officer based in India who can be contacted if a user has a concern about their experience and is unable to report it through other channels. The reports detail user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp’s own preventive actions to combat abuse on the platform,” WhatsApp was quoted as saying to CNBC TV 18.
WhatsApp is also integrating Truecaller on the app to help identify potential spam numbers so this should help in mitigating the issue.
Faqs on WhatsApp Scam
1) Why Telegram and not WhatsApp?
Ans) To find out the answer for this, we spoke to an ethical hacker and cyber technology expert, Nilesh Purohit, who is based in Rajasthan and works for several investigative agencies.
Nilesh Purohit says that Telegram still helps you to remain anonymous and its data at large is not available with Indian agencies and because of its encrypted format and vulnerability, it helps users remain anonymous and untraceable.
India’s top cyber expert Pawan Duggal says that the moment these messengers ask you to provide details on Telegram, that is when one need to be conscious because it is highly likely that if you provide your bank details there, it will lead to a transaction of all your savings to these messengers.
Duggal says once you expose your financial details to these scamsters, that is going to be beginning of a new chapter as your financial details could be misused against you. As suggested by Shivani, we opened the Telegram link which connected us to another account on Telegram app. This account had a picture of a girl and named Aisya Devi. The account asked for a job code from the India Today journalist.
The job code ‘ht586’ was given by Shivani on WhatsApp after completing the task of liking and subscribing in YouTube videos.
The Telegram app user asked the reporter to submit his biological profile including his name, age, gender and profession.
Along with these details, the India Today journalist also placed an IP tracker secretly in the information details which was created by the ethical hacker to help us in finding the IP address of these messengers.
Asiya Devi acknowledged the response and the details provided by India Today journalist but did not click the link provided in the message. It seemed that she realised it could be a trap to find out their locations.
Ethical hacker Nilesh says that these scamsters are very smart and very updated about the activities of the Indian agencies who are always after cyber frauds and hence, they simply avoid clicking on any links sent by any users as this could potentially lead to their arrest.
Once the details were provided, the journalist was asked for his bank account details.
This is where the no-go area on social media begins. The India Today journalist refused to share bank account details and immediately the Telegram user said that without it, one was ineligible to make quick money.
2) Why do they need bank account details?
Ans) Director General of National Testing House under the consumer affairs ministry Dr Alok Shrivastava suggests that consumers should never respond to such messages or share data or even click the links shared on social media platforms as these could be a fraud attempt and that consumers should take precautions while dealing with such messages.
Cyber experts suggest that money made by scamsters on digital fraud could be potentially used against national security as it was the case when scamsters from Pak-occupied Kashmir were calling Indian people in the name of Kaun Banega Crorepati.
Cyber expert Nilesh Purohit says that using KBC’s name fake accounts were used for financial fraud where many people paid small amounts of money and the money was used for hawala, and anti-India activities in Kashmir and other parts of the country.
Cyber expert Pavan Duggal Hubli said that there could be a possibility of the environment of state and non-state actors who could use such money for anti-India activities to disturb law and order and carry out several other kinds of activities against India’s national interest. Moreover, it also affects India’s sovereign cyber interest.
Cyber experts are warning that these are strong and advanced phishing attacks against the Indians.
Instant money on internet sounds too cool and exciting but it often ends up being big cyber frauds, with people losing money which remains untraceable. Over the years, different digital or cyber platform have been used for search scams. There has been great awareness campaigns against cyber frauds but scamsters have been discovering various innovative and creative method of cheating people.
Those who are not aware of cyber fraud often get trapped as they fail to validate or authenticate the nature of such messages. Moreover, these gangs of financial criminals operating from different parts of the country, including Jamtada, Mewat and other parts of the country, use good money against India’s national interest. This money could be part of hawala trade, anti-India propaganda so, and so forth.
3) New WhatsApp Scam India: Don’t fall for the Rs. 50 per like for YouTube videos, up to Rs. 5000 per day SCAM!Details?
Ans) Scammers are taking advantage of joblessness, layoffs, and people’s need for extra income by offering fake job opportunities, such as paying Rs. 50 for liking a YouTube video. These scammers use platforms like WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and even Facebook to lure victims with promises of easy money, like earning up to Rs. 5,000 per day for liking YouTube videos.
They often ask for personal information to proceed with payment, and sometimes they will also ask for payment in exchange for access to the non-existent job.
One of the latest scams going around is the “Rs. 50 per like.” Scammers are enticing clueless youths with offers of earning Rs. 5,000 per day by just liking YouTube videos.
4) What is the new Scam?
Ans) Scammers start by sending a message stating they have a job opportunity for you with limited slots, if you are interested, you must reply to reserve a slot. When the victim replies asking what is the job about?, Scammers state that ‘All you need to do here is to LIKE the videos(YouTube) and you will be paid Rs. 50 per video you LIKE.’
Please note that, generating fake likes on YouTube is a common business model, usually handled by bot farms running fake accounts. However, the victim in this scam is YOU, not advertisers or YouTube algorithms.
The scammers will almost always try to pose that they are representing a global internet or social media company that you have not heard of. To get the victim hooked on, the scammers will even pay a small amount like Rs. 150 for ‘Completing three tasks’, they will send three YouTube video links and ask you to like them and screenshots back.
Now the victim is baited, the scammers then move to Phase 2 of their game plan where they will conjure up some problems in transfering payment to you. They will then ask you to download an app for easier payment transfer. This app, a remote access trojan, or malware is their gateway to your device and personal information. They will ask you to transfer Rs. 1 for payment gateway verification. Now they have all your information, bank account details, credit card details and access to OTP/Emails.
Job searching is a tough period in anyone’s life, however, scammers are just taking advantage of people’s financial struggles. Please understand, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Use common sense and always install apps from Google’s official app store.
