Lekey Zangmo 

Bhutan Computer Incident Response Team (BtCIRT) has cautioned the public against accepting or responding to any messages about winning lotteries or visas through any social media sites.

BtCIRT is the national point of contact for all cybersecurity issues under the Ministry of Information and Communication.

In recent days, lottery scams are also doing rounds on WhatsApp telling people that they have won huge amounts and asking them to contact the head office. They ask for personal details so that they can hack into your personal accounts.

They try to make it authentic using pictures of high-profile persons and various logos of local companies and some ministries.

In return for the lottery amount, the scammers make many excuses like processing requirements and other process methods where they make people deposit money.

Another scam circulating on social media is the Australian work visa sponsorship and jobs where they promise you 99.9 percent visa success and scholarship citing labour shortage in Australia.

The link from the message directs to a bogus website asking for personal information.

BtCIRT stated that people should not click on the links and not share their personal details even if the messages are from family and friends. Several Wechat accounts have been hacked by scammers.

People are urged to not share any codes to help others retrieve their accounts as the scammers are hacking and seeking help from the contacts of the victims to log into the accounts.

Users are warned not to share personal details or passwords when asked about the accounts as they could be potential hackers.

Those whose accounts were hacked are asked to seek help from the links provided by BtCIRT.

The public is asked to block and report numbers spreading scams on social media immediately and not to forward them to friends and family.