BENGALURU: Recently, the multi platform free messenger app – WhatsApp rolled out a new video-calling feature for Android, iOS and Windows users. The feature is available to all users via an update. The new feature that allows users to do video calls with their friends, is giving scammers an opportunity to introduce malicious code onto user's device.

Scammers are circulating a malicious link, which claims to be an invite for the update. The spam message reads, "You're invited to try WhatsApp Video Calling feature. Only people with the invitation can enable this feature." When the user clicks on this link, it will redirect to a spam site, asking for personal information.  Even though no critical incidents were reported, the link could compromise smartphone security and expose it to cyber-attacks. The Facebook owned firm introduced invite system last year when it rolled out voice calling, where scam artists also used 'invite link' to dupe users. Now the past seems to be repeating with the WhatsApp video calling scam invitation.

WhatsApp’s malicious scam links often get shared with claims of exclusive features. The video-calling invite appears to be the latest of them. Earlier there was a ‘WhatsApp Gold’ link that had gone viral, which claimed to offer users access to an exclusive form of the app.

The video-calling update is automatically available to Android, iOS, and Windows users via respective app stores. Readers please be aware that WhatsApp does not have a ‘gold’ version.

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