Police: Don’t answer calls from unknown foreign numbers amid potential hack attempt

Authorities say calls flooding Israelis’ phones over past day appear designed to cause panic, possibly hack WhatsApp accounts
By TOI STAFF

Police: Don’t answer calls from unknown foreign numbers amid potential hack attempt

Police and the National Cyber Directorate said Friday that Israelis should not answer WhatsApp calls coming from unknown numbers overseas, warning they could be part of a phone-hacking attempt.

Police said the calls flooding Israelis’ phones were designed to cause panic and harass Israelis, warning they may also be an attempt to hack their WhatsApp accounts.

At least some of the calls, which also included video calls, have come from US phone numbers.

“We recommend not answering them and not calling them back,” police said.

The cyber directorate noted that answering a call will not lead to a phone being hacked or damaged.

It added that the issue has been reported to Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company.

Authorities asked that WhatsApp users set their privacy settings to hush calls from unknown numbers, block and report the numbers making the calls, and avoid clicking on links sent from unknown numbers.

A number of Israeli companies have faced cyberattacks amid the war in Gaza, which was triggered by the Hamas terror group’s deadly onslaught in southern Israel three weeks ago.

Source: Times of Israel