Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar.
Hyderabad: Hyderabad Commissioner of Police VC Sajjanar on Monday, October 12, warned the public of a new cyber scam.
Sharing a video message on X, he said that this scam results in “a person’s bank account being completely drained in mere moments simply for replying ‘NO’ to a single WhatsApp message!”
He said the victim neither shared an OTP nor clicked on any suspicious link; all they did was type out NO, and his life’s savings were wiped out.
“I recently came across a new type of cybercrime that managed to defraud a chartered accountant. It involves a highly dangerous ‘auto-execution file attack’ orchestrated by cybercriminals leveraging technology,” said the CP.
Elaborating, he said that initially, the potential victim receives a message on WhatsApp from an unknown number, saying that a certain amount has been debited from their account.
Soon after, they get another message saying, “If you did not initiate this transaction, reply ‘NO’ immediately.”
The moment the receiver types and sends “NO”, malware scripts hidden within the message get activated. “Within seconds, hackers gain full control over your mobile phone and drain all the funds from your bank accounts,” said Sajjanar.
The Commissioner urged everyone not to reply ‘YES’ or ‘NO’ to messages from unknown numbers regarding bank transactions.
He added that instead of responding out of panic, they should block such numbers and delete any chats with them.
Also, instead of responding to such suspicious messages, one should directly check on the banking app if any money has been deducted after all.
He said, “No official bank asks for such information via WhatsApp. If you fall victim to this scam, do not delay; call the cyber helpline at ‘1930’ during the ‘golden hour’ or file a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in
.This post was last modified on October 12, 2026 4:37 pm