KARACHI: Veteran Pakistani actress Asma Abbas's WhatsApp account has been hacked, leading her and her sister, legendary actress Bushra Ansari, to issue a public warning against scammers.
On Sunday, Bushra Ansari took to Instagram to share a screenshot of a conversation from her sister's number, alerting everyone that Asma's account had been compromised. She wrote, "Please do not trust messages of this kind," urging people to be cautious. The screenshot shows a hacker, pretending to be Asma Abbas, asking a person named Ibrahim for a loan of Rs 10 lakh (1 million).
Asma Abbas also shared a video on her own Instagram, explaining the situation and apologizing to her family and friends who have been distressed by the scam. She confirmed that messages demanding money were being sent to many people from her number. "This has become a very common practice these days, where hackers take over a WhatsApp account to ask for money from the user's contacts," she said.
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Asma Abbas revealed the details of how her account was hacked. She received a phone call from someone who claimed to have a parcel for her and asked for a verification code that had been sent to her on WhatsApp.
"My daughter Zara had sent me something a few days ago, and I thought the parcel was just delayed due to the rains," she explained. Believing it was a legitimate delivery, she shared the code. "This is happening a lot in Pakistan," she added, stating that as soon as she provided the code, her WhatsApp was hacked.
Both actresses have urged the public to be vigilant and not share any verification codes or send money to anyone who makes such a request, even if the message appears to be from a known contact.
