NEW DELHI: As wedding season is approaching, the people now receive invitations through WhatsApp because of its convenience. As digital wedding cards are nowadays common, the cyber criminals are using it to trick users into a new scam. The police have come warning about a new fraud on WhatsApp, which is pretending to be a wedding invitation. Nowadays it is common to send wedding messages through WhatsApp, including to friends and acquaintances. However, the police have warned that by opening some files that arrive as fake wedding invitations, all the information on your phone may be leaked and money may be stolen.

Fake wedding invitations come as APK files via WhatsApp. When downloading such files, malware enters the phone and leaks personal information. With this, hackers can send messages and steal money without our knowledge. A wedding invitation can be sent to your WhatsApp from an unknown number. By downloading the file to view the marriage letter accompanying the message, the fraudsters gain full control of the phone.

Once the fraudsters have access to the phone's contact list, they can send messages and demand money. They may also threaten others by misusing personal information. DIG Mohit Chawla, Cyber Crime Department, Himachal Pradesh said that such cases have been noticed. Be careful when opening from unknown numbers. The police have warned to open the file only after ascertaining who the sender is.