WhatsApp's new username feature, positioned by Meta as one of its biggest privacy upgrades yet, has drawn sharp warnings from entrepreneur Ankur Warikoo and also YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who cautioned that it could trigger a fresh wave of impersonation scams in India if robust safeguards are not put in place before the rollout.
WhatsApp announced this week that users can now reserve usernames, allowing people to connect and message each other without sharing their phone numbers. The feature, widely seen as a quality-of-life privacy upgrade, is expected to roll out broadly later this year.
"In India, This Could Be a Disaster"
Warikoo, who has over 5 million followers across platforms, was among the first to flag the risk. "In a country such as India, this could be a disaster, if the right anti-abuse systems are not set up by WhatsApp," he wrote on X.
He illustrated the concern with a straightforward scenario: scammers could register usernames with slight variations of well-known names, such as "warikoo", "awarikoo", "ankurwarikooo", "ankur_warikoo" and use them to solicit money from unsuspecting followers.
Warikoo identified two compounding problems. First, that many users still do not fully understand what a verified badge means on a platform. Second, and more fundamentally, that the privacy-first design of the username feature removes the one quick verification tool most Indians already instinctively use. "Cannot be verified through calling the phone number because username equals privacy," he wrote.
He also cited personal experience with Meta's handling of impersonation. "I have fought a legal case against Meta's lack of attempt to bring down AI-generated ads showing my face, luring people into investment WhatsApp groups. I understand how massive this scam is and how easy it is in our country to execute it," he wrote.
Dhruv Rathee, who commands one of India's largest YouTube audiences, took a broader aim, at Meta's overall approach to platform safety and its track record of responding to abuse at scale. His criticism points to a pattern advocates have flagged for years: that features designed to protect user privacy can be weaponised when deployed without matching anti-abuse infrastructure.
India is WhatsApp's largest market, with more than 500 million users, and online scams on the platform have risen sharply alongside smartphone adoption. Experts say the combination of a new identity layer and low awareness of impersonation risks could make the feature particularly challenging in the country.
Fraud on WhatsApp already ranges from investment schemes to impersonation of government officials and public figures. Usernames that closely resemble real names, without a visible phone number to cross-check, could make it easier for bad actors to deceive users.
WhatsApp has said the feature is intended to give users greater control over their personal information, but the company has not yet detailed the anti-abuse measures that will accompany the broader rollout.
