Key Points
Over the last two weeks, many WhatsApp users in India have reported receiving a spate of missed calls from international numbers, typically by users registered as business accounts..
An investigation by The Indian Express and conversations with cybersecurity experts and agents people who carry out the WhatsApp scams have revealed that at the heart of this scam is a multi-million-dollar industry where fraudsters get their hands on international numbers, largely through three ways: 1) free access websites that generate virtual phone numbers of any country; 2) platforms that create such numbers for a fee thats paid through cryptocurrency; and 3) a thriving ecosystem of people on platforms such as Telegram and eBay that generate such numbers.. . Explained..
For instance, WhatsApp allows users to create accounts using virtual phone numbers, a function that makes it difficult to trace those behind such accounts...
There are publicly available free websites such as receive-smss.com, etc., that allow you to choose from phone numbers of any country and use them on services such as WhatsApp that require a one-time password (OTP) to start an account..
WhatsApp is usually the first target (of the fraudsters) because of the sheer numbers of users the platform has, which includes a number of users who may not be as digitally competent and are more likely to fall for scams...
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