You may be desperate to access the voice calling feature in WhatsApp, which is why it’d be best to warn you about cyber criminals who are allegedly circulating fake invitations through the messenger service. Word is that fraudsters are taking advantage of all the hype surrounding the unreleased function to trick users into downloading software and other tools they didn’t want in the first place.
WhatsApp hasn’t officially announced a proper date for the launch of the free voice calling addition. The company was seen testing it among a select (or random) group of users and the only way you could have got an invite was if a person with the access to the feature gave you a call from within the app. Those who could miraculously dial up someone in their contacts list without receiving an initial invite reportedly saw the function enabled automatically on their devices.
So you can only win a pass to the VoIP service if you pick up a voice call through WhatsApp from someone you know who already has it. Do remember this point in case you’re ever tempted to reply to a message from a number telling you that you can get it if you answer some survey questions. Because this is precisely the trick online fraudsters are employing to force victims into downloading malware and other software onto their smartphones, says The Market Business.
Also see: Here’s why you haven’t gotten WhatsApp free voice calling yet
Even if a person you know sends you a message asking you to try the voice calling option, stay away from it. The cyber criminals behind the scam supposedly request people to invite 10 other friends to get a taste of the web-based function if they wish to continue downloading it. It’s a chain reaction from there onward, with folks eager to give the service a spin getting taken in by the fake message and unwittingly leading their contacts into doing the same too.
WhatsApp has currently disabled the option to invite another person to use its free voice calling feature and is keeping mum on when it will be released worldwide too. But if you have it already, you can still dial up people from within the application.