Almost all of us have been at the receiving end of incessant WhatsApp calls, texts and videos from anonymous international numbers in the last couple of months. They come from across the world-Indonesia to Vietnam, Malaysia to Kenya—with job offers, money-making opportunities, or lurid invites and compromising videos.

Why have the calls increased so much? Who’s behind them? How are they using WhatsApp business accounts so easily? How big and dangerous is the con? What legal recourse do you and I have? And can WhatsApp afford this menace in its biggest market with a user base of 488 million?

In this episode of The Morning Brief, host Dia Rekhi unravels the scam by talking to:

Sachin Taparia, Chairman and Founder of LocalCircles about the results of the recent survey on this issue
Kanishk Gaur, Cyber Security Expert on all the whys and hows of a WhatsApp scam

Credits: WhatsApp

If you like this episode from Dia Rekhi, you can check out her episodes - Twitter Tales, India vs Europe: Regulatory Rift, ChatGPT Explained and Explored, Band, Baaja, Billions and more.

You can follow our host Dia Rekhi on her social media: Twitter & Linkedin

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

S5: BONUS - Read ‘I Am Creator’ with Jennie!