-snip - I know WhatsApp to download image automatically as long as one has data connection, how then can one avoid it being downloaded? it's very scary at this point because I use WhatsApp and the images are just downloaded without ones permission.
This is indeed a good question : anyone has a clue?
[Solution]
Since OP only brought the recent scam and monitoring malware awareness without a possible solution to it, hence I have took my time look into WhatsApp and find some possible solution.
[1] Since most of this scammers get contacts from groups and other places where one exposed their contact Without ones awareness it's best to head over to your WhatsApp settings > Privacy > Advanced > Then enable Block unknown account messages.

[2] Since images download has an option of enabling and disabling, hence head over to WhatsApp settings > Storage and data > media auto-download > There are options of [When using mobile data, When connected on WiFi, When roaming.] > Click on each of them and un-check the image options and any other thing you do not want to download automatically on each of the options.

I believe this will be helpful to everyone, however I do not know if creating a separate thread on this guided with extensions on explaining the solution or just leaving it here?