'Add me to WhatsApp' scam calls to be investigated

The UK's data watchdog is investigating a spike in complaints about "robo calls" - where a recorded voice asks you to add them on WhatsApp - that are suspected to lead to a recruitment scam.

The Information Commission's Office (ICO) had more than 3,600 complaints about automated calls in September - a five-year high and nearly three times the number it had in July.

But it suspects millions of people are getting these calls and told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours it was "deeply concerned" by the sharp rise.

The ICO advises people to ignore calls from numbers they don't recognise, and to block and report any suspicious calls to the watchdog.

The automated calls typically come from what appears to be a UK mobile number.

Some of the recorded messages mention an offer of part-time work.

Simon Fell, from the Communications Crime Strategy Group, a telecoms industry body set up to tackle fraud, said he couldn't be sure exactly what form the scam would take as he hadn't followed up on the messages.

"Mostly likely it would be a recruitment scam," he said.

"They would either put you through to a fake job listing, which might involve some form of money muling. It could look like a completely legitimate job, or something ad hoc, but they might pass criminal funds through your account which can lead to terrible consequences.

"It could also be a simple phishing exercise - criminals send out these messages, and what they really want to know is who's picking up, who's active - that information can be resold on the dark web.

"The possibilities are endless. At the end of the day this is a criminal that has reached out to you and they're trying to defraud you in some way shape or form."

Andy Curry, the ICO's head of criminal investigations, told the BBC he believed the calls were coming from abroad.

"We are trying to find who is behind this, why they're doing it and the impact it's having on members of the public," he said.

The number of complaints received by the ICO would only be a small proportion of the totals affected, he said.

"We think there are probably millions of people who are receiving these messages, which appear to us to be largely indiscriminate.

"I've had them, my colleague who's leading the investigation has had them. It's likely to be tip of the iceberg."

Fell said that mobile companies were "working on a range of fronts" to tackle the influx of automated calls.

This includes sending intelligence reports to the regulator Ofcom, working with law enforcement, and liaising with Meta, which owns WhatsApp, because if someone does follow up on the request to add the number to the encrypted platform, "any dialogue that happens between you and the criminal then can't be investigated any further".

A WhatsApp spokesman said there were features in place to protect its users from scam calls, including silencing calls from unknown numbers. He also said WhatsApp banned millions of accounts each year for "malicious behaviours", such as bulk account registration or automated messaging.

While these calls typically appear to be from a UK mobile number, Fell said these numbers will be imitated, or spoofed, by the criminals behind the scam.

Last November, the UK government promised that call spoofing would be eliminated within a year.

A Home Office spokesman said the government was taking "robust action" to tackle scams.

"We remain committed to delivering the Telecommunications Charter, alongside industry, by November," he added.