By Oscar Chukwugekwu
Ghanaian-Nigerian actress, Nadia Buari, has raised alarm over WhatsApp impersonators, days after the platform rolled out its new username feature.
WhatsApp recently announced the username feature, which allows users to connect without sharing phone numbers.
In an Instagram post, the actress said she tried to set up a WhatsApp username, but found that every version of her name was already taken.
She hinted that ‘Nadia Buari’, ‘Nadia S Buari’, ‘NSB’, and even ‘theNadiaBuari’ were all unavailable.
She described the situation as exhausting and unsettling.
Buari said the development shows how fast fraudsters and imposters are moving to claim identities online to deceive people.
She urged her followers to be careful and stay alert, noting that if impersonators are this quick with usernames, other forms of online scams could be worse.
“Why are people like this???… I was trying to create this WhatsApp username thing, only to realise every single variation of my name is already gone. Every. Single. One. Nadia Buari…Taken. Nadia S Buari…Taken. NSB….Taken. Even theNadiaBuari—like, seriously?! It’s exhausting and honestly kind of scary.
“At this point, it’s clear fraudsters and imposters are lurking everywhere, ready to snatch up anything just to mislead people. Please, be careful out there and stay vigilant—because if they’re this quick with usernames, imagine what else they’re up to,” she wrote.