Parents are being caught out by a vicious scam on WhatsApp that beings with a message saying "hey mum" or "hey dad".
Criminals are targeting mums and dads, where the scammer pretends to be one of their children. They say they are texting from a new number because they damaged or lost their phone.
The conversation typically starts out with "Hello Mum" or "Hello Dad". They then ask for their parents to transfer them money urgently as they need to buy a new phone or pay a bill.
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Around €1.8 million has already been scammed from unsuspecting victims in just four months in the UK.
In February this year, Patricia Land from Bridgend in Wales lost €2,600 to a fraudster posing as her son Mark over WhatsApp. She innocently thought she was helping her child out.
“It was so clever, so so clever,” she explained. “He text saying: ‘Hi Mum, my phone has fallen, it’s completely broken, I’ve had to get a new one, can you save this new number’ then some kisses.”
After realising she'd been duped, Patricia said she felt "violated".
She said: "You hear about scams, a long-lost relative who wants you to follow a link, but this was personal. It’s not like I’ve bought some goods and they haven’t arrived – this just feels so personal and it makes you feel violated."
Margaret, a pensioner from Cardiff, was another person who was taken in by the same scam but luckily her bank payment didn't go through.
She received a message from someone she believed to be her daughter, saying "Hi mum, it's your favourite daughter". Unsuspecting Margaret said she had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the message because it seemed so natural.
So when the person who she assumed was her daughter said she had a standing order of £900 that needed paying, Margaret immediately tried to help.
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"Because she had just had a baby and had been on maternity leave, I assumed she was paying nursery fees," Margaret said. "They asked for £900 but I only had £700 in my bank account so I replied and said do you want me to go to the building society and put more in or could I do it by credit card. They said yes, credit card was fine."
Luckily for Margaret the credit payment didn't go through due to the in-built checks from her bank, despite Margaret ringing the bank up and reassuring them the payment was for her daughter.
But then the person on the other end of the messages changed the amount they'd asked for initially and also the account it had to be paid to. Annoyed, Margaret rang her second daughter and said she was really irritated that her daughter kept asking for money. It was then the penny dropped, as her other daughter told her she was being scammed and to stop.
"I was very lucky because it was £900," said Margaret. "It wasn't a small amount. It was upsetting, I was crying afterwards and thinking how could I have been so stupid? If I'd had enough money in my account, I would've just paid it over online banking."
Even when she pushed back and asked if should call, they replied back and said they were busy. Because it was 7pm in the evening, when they would have been putting the baby to bed, it all fitted with the normal routine, added Margaret.
Margaret, who said she was quite digital-savvy, is aware of the more common phishing emails but hadn't heard of the WhatsApp scam until she fell victim. She reported it to the police at the time.
Margaret said it was important people were made aware of the scam: "This one is so cleverly done," she said. "If I'd read about it or seen it in an article I might have thought twice."
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