The Bermuda Police Service has warned the public to be wary of a WhatsApp scam in involving a link in group chats inviting people to subscribe to a Zoom meeting.

A police spokesman said a fictitious Zoom link shared by the fraudsters turns out to be a verification code.

If clicked on, the link transfers the WhatsApp account to the scammer’s phone, allowing them access to contact lists.

The scammers then pretend to be owners of the WhatsApp account and reach out to contacts, asking them to transfer monies to Chase Bank, PayPal and US retail store accounts.

The spokesman said: “Should you receive such an invitation, please verify with your group admin, or the person who supposedly sent it to you, whether it is in fact from them.

“If it’s not, immediately delete the message from your device.”

In some instances, the police said individuals who detect the attempted fraud, pretend to “play along” with the scammers by not clicking the code, but instead respond to the WhatsApp message sent to them.

Residents were advised against this practice as their WhatsApp accounts would be at risk of being compromised.