WhatsApp security settings to turn on

WhatsApp is where a lot of payment requests, job offers, and family emergencies arrive. A few settings make it harder for a stranger to use your name or join your groups.

Settings worth changing

1. Open WhatsApp, then Settings, then Account, then Two-step verification. Turn it on, choose a PIN you can remember, and add an email address you control. This PIN is separate from your phone lock and from any OTP.

2. Open Settings, then Privacy, then Groups. Set it to My contacts, or to Nobody except people you choose. Strangers should not be able to drop you into an investment or job group.

3. Under Privacy, set Last seen, Profile photo, About, and Status to My contacts. A stranger does not need your photo or the fact that you are online.

4. Under Privacy, then Calls, turn on Silence unknown callers if you keep getting calls from numbers you do not know.

5. Turn on Chat lock or App lock, and use your fingerprint or phone PIN. If someone picks up your unlocked phone, your chats should not be the next thing they can read.

6. Long-press a sensitive chat and lock it. Bank alerts, OTPs, and family conversations are the ones to lock first.

Habits that matter more than a setting

• Do not tap a link in a message that says your account will close, a parcel is held, or a payment failed. Open the bank, courier, or shop yourself.

• A voice note or a profile photo is not proof. Call the person on the number already saved in your phone.

• Never read an OTP, UPI PIN, or six-digit authenticator code into a WhatsApp chat.

• If a new device asks to link WhatsApp, and you are not holding that device, reject it. Then turn on two-step verification if it is still off.

Menu names move a little between updates. Look for Privacy and Two-step verification. If a message tells you to disable either one, it is not from WhatsApp.

If money has already left your account, call 1930 or report at cybercrime.gov.in. This page is awareness information. It does not file a complaint.