The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued an advisory saying that a cyber campaign, called GhostPairing, is being used for hijacking WhatsApp accounts. The Ministry said that the offenders or hijackers are exploiting WhatsApp’s device-linking feature to hijack accounts using pairing codes without authentication requirement.
It added that the campaign usually begins with victims receiving a message, such as Hi, check this photo, from a trusted contact. The message contains a link with a Facebook-style preview which later leads to a verifying process via phone number.
The Ministry noted that this activity grants attackers full access to victim’s WhatsApp accounts, without any password theft or SIM swapping and the chain follows.
The Ministry asked citizens not to click on suspicious links and never enter their phone number on external sites. It further urged people to check linked WhatsApp device settings regularly and to not fall for such traps.
