Citing an increase in cyber frauds through misuse of the MTNL’s name and logo, the Delhi Police on Tuesday alerted mobile customers against WhatsApp messages received on the pretext of updating KYC details. Taking to Twitter, the Delhi Police said that the state-run telecom service provider does not carry out KYC verification over WhatsApp and advised mobile customers not to respond to such fraudulent messages.

“In case you receive such messages — be careful — ‘Dear Customer, Your MTNL Sim Card, Addhar, e-KYC has been suspended. Your sim card would be blocked within 24 hours. Call immediately’,” the Delhi Police said.

“Beware! There is a sharp spike in fraudulent incidents wherein @MTNLOfficial’s name & logo are being used to commit cyber fraud. “Mobile customers receive WhatsApp messages from miscreants on the pretext of KYC updation to retrieve confidential information,” the Delhi Police tweeted from its official handle.

To avoid falling prey to such scams, the Delhi Police asked people not to share personal information in case they receive such messages and warned them from clicking on unverified links.

The police officials said one should not download any apps that appear suspicious and most importantly MTNL does not carry out KYC verification over WhatsApp.

In case of any such cases of cyber fraud, victims should report the matter on 1930 or visit the nearest cyber police station, the police urged.

Last month, the Pune police filed a charge sheet against a former IPS offer and a cyber expert in connection with an alleged multi-crore cryptocurrency fraud, following their arrest in March for cheating investigators by fraudulently transferring money worth crores from digital wallets to their accounts, the police had said.

Patil, who had taken voluntary retirement from the Indian Police Service, and Ghode were roped in by the Pune police to investigate two cryptocurrency cases registered in 2018 as digital currency was a technical issue.

The police had alleged that Patil, during the course of the investigation, transferred some of the cryptocurrencies in his account and Ghode provided screenshots of the accounts to police by manipulating the figures.