A mum was nearly scammed out of £1,487 thanks to a WhatsApp fraudster.
Sue Gambrill, from Skelmersdale, received the message on Thursday at around 10.30pm from someone who claimed to be one of her children, which Sue believed was her daughter. The sender told Sue she had "dropped" her phone in the sink and it was "broken".
The message goes on to say "fortunately, I am insured against loss, theft or damage" and so it was likely they would be reimbursed and for Sue to contact them on this new number. In a reply seen by the ECHO, Sue said: "OK saved it. Isn't everything backed up."
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The fraudster replies: "Yes but I can't confirm any login because of the sim and phone. I've tried rice and hairdryer but nothing helps and I needed to sort out few important things today before tomorrow morning." After this, Sue said there was a "sentence that didn't quite fit, so made me suspicious."
After these initial messages , the scammer then moved to ask for money. Sue told the ECHO: "It just appeared as if it was from my daughter, I panicked. But there was a sentence that didn’t quite fit so made me suspicious. They asked for money."
In further messages seen by the ECHO, the scammer then sent Sue payment details to a bank account she didn't know asking for £1,487.20. They added: "Can you please send me a pdf or picture of a payment when it's done so I can forward it as paid. Mum?"
Sue then asked what the payment was for as she grew suspicious. The scammer said: "It's back payment why?" To which Sue replies: "I'm just checking it's real." The trickster said it was but by this point Sue knew it wasn't.
The mum shared the message on a local Facebook page to warn others of the scam. She said: "Got this text last night from I thought was my daughter. I nearly fell for it thank god I waited till this morning to follow up. Would have cost me a lot."
Sue told the ECHO: "The more people who are aware how easy it is. It’s a good job I know my kids."
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