WhatsApp calls, messages from international numbers? Beware of scammers

If you have been receiving calls and messages from random international numbers on WhatsApp, it's an indication that you have been targeted by scammers.

Most of these calls come from phone numbers that start with +251 (Ethiopia), +60 (Malaysia), +62 (Indonesia), +254(Kenya), and +84 (Vietnam). Although they carry the country codes, the calls can be made from any part of the world as WhatsApp calls are done via the internet and there are agencies that sell international numbers for WhatsApp calls in different cities.

If you respond to these calls or messages on WhatsApp, the person on the other side is likely to offer a job that sounds lucrative with little effort, but may eventually end with you losing all your money.

The scammers pretend to be from a reputed company offering part-time jobs that can be carried out from within the comfort of your home. In most cases, they first lure people by offering them a small reward for completing a "task". Once the user gets their money, they begin to trust the "employers" and get caught up in a much larger scam costing them a lot of money.