[abdullahkhalids]

When I left Canada after my PhD, I stopped paying for my pre-paid phone plan for my Canadian number. A couple of months later, someone tried to scam my cousin in Pakistan, using Whatsapp. The scammer

1. Acquired my Canadian number.

2. Identified it as "my" account, and downloaded a picture of my social media to use as a Whatsapp display picture.

3. Somehow, identified my cousin as a potential target. Not sure how they did it.

4. Located where roughly my cousin lived. Perhaps via social media check-ins or some other way.

5. Asked my cousin to meet in a park not too far from his house, because I was in trouble and needed money.

Thankfully, my cousin did not fall for the scam and contacted me via other means to verify.