WhatsApp has asked users to block and report suspicious accounts after several Indians complained about receiving calls from unknown international numbers.
Indian WhatsApp users have shared screenshots of such audio and video calls on social media.
With 487 million users, India has WhatsApp’s largest user base.
A government spokesperson said .”Service providers have issued an advisory” about these spam calls.
Users have been sharing screenshots online – many saying they have been flooded with calls from Southeast Asia and African countries.
Most of them have said that these calls have increased several times in recent days.
In its statement to NDTV, the messaging platform advised users to use the app’s privacy controls and safeguard their accounts by making personal details visible to only their contacts.
“It’s important to report these accounts to WhatsApp so that we can take the required action against and ban them from the platform,” a spokesperson for the company told the Times of India newspaper.
As part of its “preventive actions to combat abuse” on the platform. Also, WhatsApp said it had banned 4.7 million accounts in March.
The company also said it had launched a safety campaign to educate users about tools on the platform. Thus it would help protect them from online scams, frauds, and other threats.