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

The music video is a parody rendition of the popular evergreen song, ‘Dekh Ke Chalo’, and delivers the socially relevant message of user safety in a fun and breezy tone.

With an aim to create awareness and educate users on making safer online payments, WhatsApp today launched a user-safety campaign - titled ‘Scam Se Bacho’ which will come alive through a ‘music video.’ Being an industry leader among end-to-end encrypted messaging services in preventing abuse and promoting online security, WhatsApp is now focusing on communicating its core safety principles to payments on WhatsApp to help keep users safe while making digital payments.

The ‘Scam Se Bacho’ music video is a parody rendition of the popular evergreen song, ‘Dekh Ke Chalo’, and delivers the socially relevant message of user safety in a fun and breezy tone. The new lyrics demonstrate real-life situations in which individuals could be susceptible to scams and reinforce the message of staying safe and exercising caution while making digital payments.

Conceptualized by BBDO India and directed by Shimit Amin, Indian film director, 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.

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.

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.”

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 they face similar situations and feel empowered to stay safe while making online payments on WhatsApp.”

Payments on WhatsApp allows users to send and receive money from their contacts via Unified Payment Interface (UPI) as easily as sending a WhatsApp message. With user safety at its core, Payments on WhatsApp is designed with a strong set of security and privacy principles, including entering a personal UPI PIN for each payment.