Whatsapp

The GhostPairing scam is emerging as one of the most insidious threats facing WhatsApp users in India, quietly taking over chats without breaching any official security systems. ​ GhostPairing scam: how the trap is set The GhostPairing scam relies on social engineering, not advanced malware, to infiltrate a victim’s WhatsApp account. Attackers first pose as friends or known contacts and send messages such as “Hey, I just found a photo of yours,” followed by a malicious link that appears to host the image. ​ These links often use domains like photoboxlife, postsphotolife, yourphotolife, photopostlive, yourphotoworld, top-fotolife and fotofacetop, luring users into a fake photo-viewing page. On this site, victims are asked to enter their phone number and a WhatsApp pairing or verification code, supposedly to “verify” their identity. ​ GhostPairing scam: what really happens to WhatsApp Once the user enters the verification code, the GhostPairing scam silently links the attacker’s device to the victim’s WhatsApp account via the Linked Devices feature. From this point, scammers gain full, persistent access similar to WhatsApp Web, yet everything appears normal to the victim. ​ Crucially, this method does not crack WhatsApp

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Summarize Next Article The feature is currently being rolled out to select beta testers What's the story WhatsApp is bringing a new feature to its iOS version, allowing channel admins to create and share quiz-based updates with their followers. The update, which was spotted in the latest beta release (version 25.36.10.71) through the TestFlight app, aims to enhance user engagement within channels by adding an interactive element. The feature is currently being rolled out to select beta testers and will be available to more users over the coming weeks. How the quiz feature works The new quiz feature works just like creating a poll. Admins can add a question, provide multiple answer options (with optional pictures), and select the correct one before publishing. Once shared, quizzes appear to followers like polls but selecting an option counts as submitting an answer. If they pick the right one, a confetti animation plays, making it more engaging and rewarding for users. Detailed results available for channel admins After followers participate in a quiz, channel admins get detailed results showing how many times each option was selected and who among their contacts participated. This information can be useful for follow-ups or engagement tracking. If

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AI tools under the antitrust spotlight, as Commission opens abuse of dominance cases into both Meta and Google 19 December 2025 The European Commission has opened twin investigations into Meta and Google’s conduct in relation to generative AI assistants and related services. Whilst both cases are at a very early stage, they indicate a broadening of the scope of the potential competition concerns the Commission is likely to examine in AI markets – which the Digital Markets Act’s (DMA) static rulebook appears ill-equipped to address. What the Commission is investigating The investigations into each of Meta and Google are entirely separate and self-standing. Nevertheless, the proximity of their announcements was striking, with the Commission’s  announcement of the Meta investigation coming on 4 December 2025, and the  announcement in relation to Google following only five days later, on 9 December. This proximity appears more than co-incidental.  Meta: access for AI providers to WhatsApp The Commission’s investigation into Meta’s conduct concerns a new policy, announced in October 2025, prohibiting businesses whose primary service is a general-purpose AI assistant from using the WhatsApp Business Solution (WBS – a tool that allows businesses to integrate with WhatsApp in order to communicate with their customers). Where

(Image credit: Meta) A new WhatsApp scam called 'GhostPairing' has been discovered This tricks users into giving a criminal access to their account The attacker can then commit identity theft and scam others There’s no shortage of ways that hackers and other criminals will attempt to gain access to online accounts, but now another has just been discovered, and this specifically relates to WhatsApp. Gen Digital (via Bleeping Computer) has discovered a WhatsApp account takeover approach that it’s dubbing ‘GhostPairing’ – and when a criminal successfully carries this out, it gives them full access to your WhatsApp account, potentially without you even realizing. So it’s worth knowing what to look out for. The attempt starts by the victim being sent a message from one of their contacts, generally saying something like “Hey, I just found your photo”, followed by a link. That link will appear with a Facebook-like preview, as you can see in the image below, but the link itself won’t actually take you to Facebook. A GhostPairing WhatsApp scam message (Image credit: Gen Digital) Instead, it will take you to a page hosted by the criminals that’s designed to look like Facebook, and will ask you to log

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This week's ThreatsDay Bulletin tracks how attackers keep reshaping old tools and finding new angles in familiar systems. Small changes in tactics are stacking up fast, and each one hints at where the next big breach could come from. From shifting infrastructures to clever social hooks, the week's activity shows just how fluid the threat landscape has become. Here's the full rundown of what moved in the cyber world this week. International scam ring busted Authorities from the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine, along with Eurojust, took action against a criminal network operating call centers in Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kyiv that scammed more than 400 victims across Europe out of more than €10 million ($11.7 million). "The criminal group established a professional organisation with employees who received a percentage of the proceeds for each completed scam," Eurojust said. "The fraudsters used various scams, such as posing as police officers to withdraw money using their victims' cards and details, or pretending that their victims' bank accounts had been hacked. They convinced their victims to transfer large sums of money from their 'compromised' bank accounts to 'safe' bank accounts controlled by the network. They also lured victims into downloading remote access

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Monday clarified that the consent and transparency safeguards laid down in its earlier ruling on WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy apply to all forms of user data collection and sharing, including both advertising and non advertising purposes. The clarification came on an application filed by the Competition Commission of India, which had sought clarity on the scope of the remedial directions upheld by the tribunal in its November 4 judgment. The appellate tribunal made it clear that WhatsApp and its parent company Meta cannot claim unilateral or open ended rights over user data under the guise of policy interpretation. Allowing the application, the tribunal said, “On the basis of the above analysis, we allow the application of the Commission. It is clarified that the remedial directions contained in paragraphs 247.2.1 to 247.2.4 of the impugned order dated November 18, 2024, shall apply to WhatsApp user data collection and sharing for all non-WhatsApp purposes, including both non-advertising and advertising purposes.” A bench led by Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Technical Member Arun Baroka underscored that user choice is the central principle governing data sharing. The tribunal reiterated that control over personal data rests with users

WhatsApp Group Sexually Exploiting Children in St. Vincent and the Grenadines A WhatsApp group by the name of (The Christmas Spirit), apparently targeting children between the ages of 11 and 12 years old, has surfaced in St Vincent and the Grenadines.  The group currently has 211 members as of 16 December and has 7 group admins. All numbers were SVG registered phone numbers. Conversations in the chat seen by St Vincent Times speak to (fresher the egg, creamier the yolk, I go tear it up, smash 9, younger the crab, tighter the pinch).  Messages also display faces of young girls posing half naked, some topless and others without underwear.  Videos of child porn are also being distributed in the group.  It was not clear what ages the group admins were, although their conversations seemingly suggest they were over 18.  In February of this year a WhatsApp group, called LINK.VVC, emerged with over 300 persons broadcasting explicit sexual content and conversations with van conductors, van drivers, older men and underage boys and girls (from at least one of the nation’s private primary schools).  The parent who found the group on her daughter’s phone informed several other parents through a WhatsApp broadcast.  “The content is nothing