A fraud expert at a major bank is warning of a recent pick-up in fake "Hi mum" and "Hi dad" messages - with some involving a twist where people are asked to transfer money to a friend or family member before it is then sent on to the scammer. Such scams have appeared on WhatsApp in recent months, and Chris Ainsley, head of fraud risk management at Santander UK, said they are now also appearing in other messaging forms, such as texts to mobile phones.
"We saw a significant spate in fake WhatsApp messages pretending to be from people's children," he told the PA news agency. "That's still ongoing. It's picked up again in the last month where we're not just seeing it through WhatsApp but on 'traditional' SMS or text messages.
"Someone just sends you a text message saying: 'Hi dad,' or 'Hi mum,' but then they just try to engineer the person into sending them a couple of thousand pounds in some cases."
