Whatsapp Image Scam: Lakhs of rupees were lost with just one photo! This scam on WhatsApp steals OTP, your bank account can be emptied.

Whatsapp Image Scam: Cases of cyber fraud are increasing rapidly in the country. In this episode, a new scam has come to light where you are being cheated through a photo on WhatsApp. This incident happened with Pradeep Jain, a 28-year-old youth from Maharashtra, in which he lost more than 2 lakh rupees after downloading a photo sent on WhatsApp. This photo looked like that of an elderly person but in reality, it was a trap created through a very advanced hacking technique 'steganography'.

How was the fraud done?

According to the information, Pradeep received a call from an unknown number in the morning and then a question was sent on WhatsApp from the same number along with a photo, "Do you know this person?" He ignored it at first, but after getting repeated calls, he downloaded the photo at 1:35 pm. He had no idea that this one click would put the security of his mobile in danger. Within a few minutes, Rs 2.01 lakh was withdrawn from his Canara Bank account through an ATM in Hyderabad. When the bank investigated this transaction, the hackers deceived the bank by imitating his voice.

Cyber experts gave this advice

Cyber experts said that 'Least Significant Bit (LSB) Steganography' was used in this scam. In this, dangerous code is hidden in a normal media file like photo, audio or PDF. This code is not detected even by common antivirus software and becomes active as soon as the file is opened.

According to experts, this photo usually has three color channels - red, green and blue, and malware can also be hidden in these or in the alpha channel with transparency. As soon as such a file is opened, the hidden code automatically installs itself and steals sensitive information like bank details, passwords etc.

Be careful with these image files

Such attacks are common in formats like .jpg, .png, .mp3, .mp4 and PDF because these formats are often considered safe and are shared widely on social media. The malware hidden in these files does not look like a phishing link or fake page, so users do not even get a clue. Cyber security experts advise to avoid downloading files from unknown numbers, turn off WhatsApp's auto-download setting, keep the latest security update in the phone and do not share OTP with anyone. Also, control who can add you to groups on WhatsApp and keep features like "Silence Unknown Callers" on.