Using Quikr or OLX? Protect your Privacy on WhatsApp

If you have been getting unwanted calls or messages on WhatsApp, then it might be because of your Quikr or OLX account. Know why from this post.

When you put up something for sale on Quikr or OLX, you have to share your number mandatorily, so that prospective buyers can contact you. Unless you have a secondary phone number, you have to share your primary number in most cases. And thanks to the popularity of WhatsApp, nearly every Internet enabled mobile device has this instant messaging app in it.

A week ago, a friend of mine wanted to give some stray puppies up for adoption. So, she posted an ad about it on one of these portals. And because she had given her personal number, she started getting messages on WhatsApp. What was discomforting was the fact that none of these messages was about adopting the puppies. One text read “Hey, nice profile pic!”; another message read “Hi, where do you stay?” and other messages of these sort.

What we are trying to help you understand by stating this incident is the fact that by using services such as OLX, Quikr, etc., you might be compromising your privacy on the Internet; in this case, on WhatsApp.

So, if you have also come across an incident such as the one described above or wish to prevent the same, then here are some steps you need to follow:

1. If you have an alternate phone number which you do not use for WhatsApp, then use it for putting up ads, instead of your primary number.

2. Tighten the privacy settings on your WhatsApp

• Go to Menu

• Go to Settings

• Tap Account

• Tap Privacy

• Tap Profile Photo

• Tap My Contacts (This ensures that only your contact list can see your profile pic on WhatsApp)

For more privacy tips for WhatsApp users, read our blog post here.

That would be it for today’s short post on how to protect your privacy on WhatsApp. If you come across any such similar incidents, please do share it with us. We will highlight it in our upcoming posts. Stay safe!