WhatsApp launches ‘Safety Overview’ in India to protect users from group chat scams

WhatsApp has introduced a new ‘Safety Overview’ tool aimed at enhancing group safety and helping users avoid potential scams. The feature appears when someone not in a user’s contact list adds them to an unfamiliar group. It will display key details about the group and tips to stay safe, allowing users to exit without opening the chat. Notifications from such groups will remain muted unless the user chooses to stay.

The Meta-owned platform is also testing alerts to prompt users to pause before engaging with unknown contacts, especially if the initial contact was made outside WhatsApp. These warnings will provide extra context about the person being messaged, enabling more informed decisions.

WhatsApp says these measures are part of a broader effort to combat criminal scam centres, often linked to forced labour and organised crime in Southeast Asia. In the first half of 2025, WhatsApp and Meta security teams detected and banned over 6.8 million accounts connected to these networks, often before they could become operational.

In one recent case, WhatsApp, Meta, and OpenAI worked together to disrupt a scam centre in Cambodia. The scheme included fake payments for likes, pyramid-style scooter rentals, and cryptocurrency investment fraud. Scammers reportedly used ChatGPT to generate the first contact message, later moving victims to Telegram to assign tasks and eventually solicit crypto deposits.

“We encourage people to stop and think before responding to a suspicious message, especially if it’s from a number they don’t know and promising fast money,” WhatsApp said, offering safety tips such as enabling two-step verification, blocking and reporting suspicious accounts, silencing unknown callers, and ensuring the use of the official app.