Payments on WhatsApp launches ‘Scam Se Bacho’ campaign in India

‘Scam Se Bacho’ campaign by WhatsApp, reinforces the message of staying safe and exercising caution while making digital payments.

With an aim to create awareness and educate users on making safer online payments, WhatsApp launched a user-safety campaign - titled ‘Scam Se Bacho’ which will come alive through a ‘music video.’ WhatsApp is now focusing on communicating its core safety principles to payments to help keep users safe while making digital payments.

Conceptualized by BBDO India and directed by Shimit Amin, Indian film director and editor known for award-winning films like Chak De! India, the music video captures an array of everyday situations that warn users of scams such as falling prey to fake lottery schemes, disclosing your UPI PIN on a call to a fake customer care executive, or sending money to a scamster posing to be a friend without verifying their identity.

Talking about the music video, Manesh Mahatme, Director - Payments, WhatsApp India said, “While UPI continues to remain one of the safest, convenient and interoperable modes of making payments, India’s growing acceptance of online payments has also seen an increase in digital payment frauds. User safety is at the core of everything we do at WhatsApp and through this exciting and captivating music video, we want to educate and empower our users with all the information they need to safeguard themselves against any frauds while making digital payments. We hope that this initiative by WhatsApp will resonate with people and they can sing their way through safe and secure online payments.”

The video further highlights initiatives that WhatsApp has undertaken to help consumers avoid such scams, frauds and make payments on WhatsApp smartly and securely. The goal of the video is to engage the audience through nostalgia and educate them about digital payment safety in the most comforting and memorable way.

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Talking about the campaign, Avinash Pant, Director - Marketing at Meta India, said, “India’s growing acceptance of digital payments has also led to an increase in the need to make people aware on how to keep their payments safe. Through this campaign, which is built on several real world scenarios that people face in their everyday life, our endeavour is to educate and empower users with all the information they need to safeguard themselves against any frauds while making digital payments. This initiative reinforces Whatsapp’s commitment to the safety of our users while making payments as simple and convenient as sending a message.”

Commenting on the creative treatment of the music video, Josy Paul, Chair and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India, said, “Our primary goal with this music video was to spread awareness and engage the audience sensitively on this subject. We decided to create entertainment that educates, rather than advertising. Our goal of reworking a fun nostalgic song like ‘Dekh ke Chalo’ was to use the power of music to convey a strong message that’ll help people relate to the moments that we collectively face in our lives. The song triggers memory structures that allow the audience to receive the message more easily. We hope it will echo with people to be more aware the next time the