Pakistan based social media handles posing as KBC team to trap people

Defence Ministry of India on Sunday revealed that the security agencies have found that Pakistani based social media handles, posing as Amitabh Bachchan-anchored show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) team, are propagating misinformation in India.

The Defence Ministry has issued a security advisory which says, "It has been reported by cyber cell, Ministry of Defence that adversaries are taking advantage of the popularity of TV show "Kaun Banega Crorepati" by making individuals join WhatsApp groups and sending fake KBC messages to trap individuals."

The advisory has disclosed two Pakistan-based numbers, which were found to be the admins of WhatsApp groups, through which they were trying to trap -people in India. The Ministry advised people to exit these group if they have already joined one and if they haven't, then they should block these numbers. The cyber cell also advised people to configure their WhatsApp settings in a manner that only a person whose contacts details are saved in your phone can add you without an invitation.

Pakistani spy agencies and fake social media handles have been actively spreading fake information and targeting Indian defence forces following the abrogation of Article 370 by central government, scrapping special status of Jammu and Kashmir. 

The cyber cell had found over 200 fake handles of military officers including both serving and retired officers had come up on social media who were tweeting and spreading messages as per the Pakistani narrative on the Kashmir issue. Following this agencies approached Twitter and a large number of such handles were suspended for being fake.

The Indian Army personnel are asked to avoid posting or sharing something on social media that reveals their details and data as it can be used by the adversaries to spread misinformation.

Also, there have been cases of virtual honey traps where serving officers and Jawans have been trapped and forced to leak military classified information to enemy operatives who generally pose as girls on social media.