Indian WhatsApp customers are being targeted for fraudulent attacks

In today’s advanced technology world, some threat actors are still choosing the traditional ways of money making. We have observed fraudulent video messages are being circulated on Indian WhatsApp customers for wining lucky draws. The victim’s are asked to contact on the the WhatsApp number, provided in the lottery message to understand the further details to receive the prize money. We have observed fraudulent messages senders belongs to the countries Pakistan and India. We have contacted one of the sender but he was unaware of these WhatsApp messages. It looks threat actors are abusing the WhatsApp of legitimate users to circulate these messages.

Case 1

The video contains the message “Sir I am WhatsApp customer officer calling from WhatsApp head office New Delhi. Your WhatsApp number has won lottery of 25,00,000 rupees as we ran international lucky draw of five countries (India, Nepal, Dubai, Chun’an and Saudi Arab) and you got the first prize. Your lottery has been sent to State Bank of India (SBI) Mumbai and the cheque letter which I have sent you contains the the bank manager’s number. You need to call the bank manager number through WhatsApp as you have won this lottery on WhatsApp, direct call will not be connected. If you are asked, tell him your lottery number and he will guide you to receive you lottery amount”:

Case 2

The video contains the message “Sir I am customer officer from Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) Mumbai, you have won lottery of 25,00,000 from our company, congratulations to you and your family. Our company has entertained 5000 participants from various network providers (Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, BSNL and Jio) and your WhatsApp number is chosen for the lucky draw. I have sent you the lottery details which also contains the manager number. You have to make a WhatsApp call to the manager, direct call will not connect. You need tell him the lottery number and he will give you the detailed information about the prize”:

Case 3

The video contains the message “Hello Sir, I am Sonia Kumari from Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) company director call Centre Mumbai. You have a good news and surprise from Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). We have run a all India sim card lucky draw and your number is one of the lucky draw winner numbers. Your number has won lottery of 25,00,000 rupees, congratulation to you and your family. Your lottery file has been deposited to ICICI bank head office Chandni Chowk, New Delhi. The lottery contains contact number of ICICI branch manager Rana Pratap Singh Ji. You have to make a WhatsApp call and tell him that you are KBC winner and if Rana Pratap Ji asks, share you lottery number with him. You should not share your lottery number with anyone else”:

WhatsApp customers are advised to check the list of linked devices into your WhatsApp app and if finds any unknown devices, make sure you logout from that device:

If users receive these fraudulent messages they should avoid contacting them and report these messages to WhatsApp and legal authorities.

Security News

The SonicWall Capture Labs Threat Research Team gathers, analyzes and vets cross-vector threat information from the SonicWall Capture Threat network, consisting of global devices and resources, including more than 1 million security sensors in nearly 200 countries and territories. The research team identifies, analyzes, and mitigates critical vulnerabilities and malware daily through in-depth research, which drives protection for all SonicWall customers. In addition to safeguarding networks globally, the research team supports the larger threat intelligence community by releasing weekly deep technical analyses of the most critical threats to small businesses, providing critical knowledge that defenders need to protect their networks.