A particularly prevalent and vicious scam is doing the rounds on WhatsApp with hundreds of people getting targeted by the innocuous 'Hello mum' or 'Hello dad' message. More than £1.5m in cash has been scammed from unsuspecting victims in just four months in the UK.
Margaret, a pensioner from Cardiff who didn't want to give her surname, was one of those taken in by the scammers, who usually start off claiming they are texting from a new mobile number, either because their phone is lost or damaged.
Margaret 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.
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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. "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.
South Wales Police has issued a new warning to people in Wales to be aware of the scam. In February this year, Patricia Land from Bridgend lost £2,200 to a fraudster posing as her son over WhatsApp. Like Margaret, 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.”
Realising she'd been duped, Patricia 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."
South Wales Police said: "We're continuing to warn people about the increase in reports of scams where victims are targeted on WhatsApp by criminals pretending to be someone they know, such as their children. Criminals typically begin the conversation with “Hello Mum” or “Hello Dad”, and will say they're texting from a new number as their phone was lost or damaged. They then ask for money to purchase a new one, or claim that they need money urgently to pay a bill.
"The criminal will provide bank details for the payment to be made to, with some coming back with further demands for money."
There have been more than 60 such incidents reported to South Wales Police so far this year. Across the UK between February and June, total reported losses have exceeded £1.5m.
Lisa, from Pembrokeshire, said she was targeted by a fraudster who messaged her on WhatsApp saying: "Hey Momma I've lost my phone I'm using this number now, delete my old one." Immediately suspicious because of the Americanism, Lisa replied asking: "Which one of you is this?"
Lisa, who didn't supply her surname, explained: "I named three of my four children, and I had a reply saying Sam. My kids don't call me momma so at first I thought he was just messing about. I asked what happened and the reply was: 'It's a long story, but I need to ask you a big favour but I'm too embarrassed to ask, delete my old number'. I deleted his old number.
"I said okay, by the way your football kit is ready - which I had washed for him - but he didn't reply to that. He then replied I need you to pay a large bill for me, the person I owe it to is going to phone you so you can pay directly to them."
It was at that point Lisa realised she'd been drawn into a scam as she'd just recovered from a period of illness and knew her children wouldn't make such a big ask of her. She messaged her son on Facebook because she had "stupidly" deleted his number and he confirmed it was a scam.
"I wouldn't have had money in my bank at that time but someone could easily be fooled," she added.
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."
Citizens Advice Scams Action has also reported an increase in messaging scams over the past year including fraudsters posing as sons, daughters, and friends of message recipients.
If you need to report a fraud or cybercrime contact Action Fraud here.
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