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LAHORE: The Punjab Home Department has issued an urgent province wide advisory to administrative departments and law enforcement agencies warning of a sharp rise in WhatsApp hacking and impersonation scams targeting government officials.
In a directive circulated to senior bureaucrats, police leadership and field formations across Punjab, the department expressed serious concern over multiple recent incidents in which WhatsApp accounts of serving officers were compromised.
According to officials, cybercriminals gained unauthorized access to these accounts and used them to send fraudulent messages to contacts often colleagues or subordinates requesting urgent financial assistance under false pretenses.
Authorities noted that such attacks typically rely on social engineering tactics exploiting trust within official networks. In several reported cases, recipients of these messages were persuaded to transfer money believing the requests to be legitimate due to the apparent authenticity of the sender’s identity.
The advisory also highlighted a parallel trend involving the creation of fake social media profiles impersonating government officers. Fraudsters have been using publicly available information such as names, designations and profile photos to build convincing digital identities and approach individuals for financial gain.
The Punjab Home Department explicitly instructed government employees to avoid conducting financial transactions based solely on digital messages, particularly those marked as urgent or confidential. Officials were also advised to enable security features such as two-step verification on their messaging accounts and to refrain from sharing one-time passwords (OTPs) or sensitive credentials under any circumstances.
