Thoothukudi District Police have issued a public warning regarding the ongoing cyber fraud ‘WhatsApp Ghostpairing’, and provided safety guidelines to protect users.
According to a police statement, ‘WhatsApp Ghostpairing’ is a new type of cyber scam that is currently spreading and does not involve OTP or password-based hacking techniques. In this scam, the cyber fraudsters send a photo and a link from an unknown number on WhatsApp, falsely claiming that the user’s photo has been published on a website.
The statement said the cyber fraudsters insist that to view the image the person must click the link immediately and pair a ‘pairing code’ displayed on the webpage to their WhatsApp-linked device. If the user believed this and linked the pairing code, their entire WhatsApp account would be connected to the scammer’s device.
As a result, all personal data and messages stored on the user’s WhatsApp account could be stolen, leading to further cyber fraud and financial risks.
To stay protected from ‘WhatsApp Ghostpairing’, the users must remove all unknown or linked devices from the linked device section of the WhatsApp. This would block cybercriminals from accessing or operating the user’s WhatsApp on their systems.
The police urged the people not to click any suspicious links received on WhatsApp or other social media platforms, and never link any pairing codes, numbers, text and QR code to WhatsApp-linked devices. The public must avoid opening links received from unknown or unverified numbers.
If anyone became a victim of such cybercrimes, they could lodge complaints through Cybercrime Helpline number 1930 or the cybercrime reporting portal, the statement added.
Published – December 28, 2025 08:04 pm IST
