The Rajasthan Police Cyber Crime Branch is actively conducting awareness campaigns to combat cybercrime in the state and safeguard citizens from online scams. Additional Director General of Police (Cyber Crime) V.K. Singh emphasized the importance of securing WhatsApp due to its prevalent use in today’s digital era. Singh warned that even slight negligence could lead to hackers accessing personal chats, photos, videos, banking details, and other sensitive data.
Cyber experts recommend activating WhatsApp’s Two-Step Verification feature for enhanced account security. By setting a secret PIN under Settings > Account > Two-Step Verification, users can prevent unauthorized access even if a SIM card is cloned. To protect personal information, users are advised to restrict access to profile photo, last seen, status, and group settings to “My Contacts” under Privacy Settings. This measure helps prevent misuse of personal photos and guards against unauthorized group additions.
Users are cautioned against malware-infected files circulated through WhatsApp, which can compromise personal and banking data if auto-download is enabled. To mitigate this risk, users should disable auto-download in Storage and Data settings. The advisory also suggests enabling the Silence Unknown Callers feature to avoid spam and scam calls, along with activating the Protect IP Address in Calls option to enhance privacy by concealing the user’s real location during calls.
The Cyber Branch encourages users to regularly monitor the Linked Devices section on WhatsApp to ensure no unauthorized access. In case of detecting suspicious activity, users should promptly log out. Citizens are urged to report any cyber fraud promptly to the nearest police station or cyber police station. Complaints can also be lodged through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal at cybercrime.gov.in or by contacting the cyber helpline number ‘1930’.
