An Adelaide mum who lost more than $5,000 to scammers posing as her son has spoken out about the experience in an effort to stop others falling prey to the same insidious and deceptive tactics.
Sue* told ABC Radio Adelaide's Sonya Feldhoff she recently fell victim to what has been dubbed the 'Hi Mum' or 'Hey Mum' scam.
Victims receive text or WhatsApp messages purportedly from their own children urgently seeking money, but using unrecognised numbers.
"To find out the next day it wasn't your son you were speaking to, it's like a real invasion," Sue said.
"It's just a terrible feeling — you think, 'Who was I conversing with this whole time?'"
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is aware of losses of $2.6 million linked to the scam.
But deputy chair Delia Rickard said the true amount could be several times that figure.
"It is a very effective one because it tugs on your heartstrings," she said.
Ms Rickard said there had been more than 1,150 reports of the scam, and about two thirds of victims were women over 55.
"[The scammers] will have an excuse like, 'I've dropped my phone', 'I broke my phone', 'I lost my phone so this is my new number, you can delete the old number'," she said.
"They'll go on to say, 'Can you give me your credit card number so I can get a new one, I'll pay you back', or 'I can't get onto my online internet banking so can you pay these bills for me?'"
Something similar happened in Sue's case — at first, she received a message purportedly from her son claiming to have lost his phone.
"I got another text saying, 'Mum, I need to pay this bill for $5,245 — I'm late on it, can you pay for it and I'll pay you back?'" she said.
ACCC suggests extra steps to verify ID
Sue said she then rang the number but received a message back that said, "I can't talk right now, I'll call you tonight. Can you transfer the money?"
"I did it, and the next day when I spoke to my son he said, 'No, it wasn't me'," Sue said.
Compounding her distress was the fact she sent a photo of herself and her son to the scammers, and that she was later told, after contacting both the scammer's bank and her own, "there's nothing they can do".
Ms Rickard recommended victims contacted national identity and cyber support service IDCARE, and advised anyone who received such messages to take extra steps to verify the identity of the sender.
"I would absolutely go and contact them on their regular number," she said.
"If they don't pick up, then I'd use an alternative form such as social media or an email.
"If you still don't get an answer from them, I would be asking the person who's communicating with you some personal questions … that only your child knows the answer to."
*Name changed to protect identity.
