Police and the National Cyber Directorate are advising people not to answer WhatsApp calls from unknown numbers coming from abroad, warning that they could be part of an attempt to hack phones.
The calls, which also include video calls, are apparently flooding Israelis’ phones, according to authorities.
At least one such call has come to a Times of Israel phone number as of this writing, from a Toledo, Ohio, area code.
“We recommend not answering them and not calling them back,” police say.
The cyber directorate notes that answering the call itself will not lead to a phone being hacked or damaged. It says the issue is being reported to Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company.
Authorities ask that WhatsApp users set their privacy settings to hush calls from unknown numbers.
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