In Pakistan, a novel form of cybercrime has surfaced, in which cybercriminals try to get personal data by pretending to be people’ educational degrees.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC), which is the regulatory agency in charge of higher education, usually requires Pakistani people to get their degrees formally certified.
Nonetheless, the HEC has released a public alert in response to reports of WhatsApp account hacking and the theft of users’ personal data purportedly for degree verification.
The public is alerted to the fact that some unidentified persons are tricking citizens into certifying their degrees using WhatsApp in order to gain their personal information.
According to a HEC representative, residents should never give their personal information to these calls as they are a new type of cyber fraud. The HEC never contacts citizens for document verification.
