HYDERABAD: Cyber fraudsters seem to be devising new and attractive ways to siphon off money from the gullible. Their latest bait is the WhatsApp lottery, which promises prize money of Rs 25 lakh to the winner. Unidentified persons claiming to be from the WhatsApp office at Delhi have been contacting the public. Police have issued warnings to people to be careful of such fraud calls and not transfer any money to the accounts mentioned by the callers.
Identifying themselves as executives from WhatsApp Delhi, the callers try to convince the user that he is eligible to be a part of the lottery, where the company would choose the winning phone number from a random lot. The callers, mostly speaking in Hindi, go on to claim that to participate in the competition, the user has to fulfil certain conditions, such as paying a registration fee and other charges.
Though there have been no complaints reported regarding the modus operandi, the police state that it could be a new trap set up by cyber fraudsters and that the public should not fall for them. “We request the public not to believe in such calls and report it to the police immediately to avoid any loss and to prevent others from falling into such traps,” said Additional DCP Cybercrimes, KCS Raghuveer.