A Co Antrim man who was almost scammed out of almost £2,000 on WhatsApp is warning others to be wary.
Colin Jess, 62, from Carrickfergus was targeted by WhatsApp 'family member' scammers on Sunday night, posing as his daughter Nicola.
The scams involve usually a WhatsApp message, but sometimes a text or phone call, from a person claiming to be a family member, and have the common aim of encouraging the recipient to transfer money.
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Luckily Colin quickly realised the messages were not genuine and is now urging others to be on their guard.
The scam started with a message claiming to be from Nicola with a new phone number. But when they asked for an unusual sum of money, Colin realised something was up.
He told Belfast Live : "It was strange but I picked up on it fairly quickly which was a good thing. I can fully understand how other people could get sucked into believing it was genuine.
"The first line about her phone working seemed fine as sometimes these things happen and you go and buy a new SIM card. The main thing was that Nicola wasn't long off the phone to her mum so I was surprised she hadn't mentioned the water damage issue at that stage.
"I started to get suspicious and I have a spare phone here so I said I would give that to her the next day. The next line when it said 'I have also another problem . . . ' was when I realised straight away that that's not Nicola."
He added: "I played along with it for a while because a couple of big things stuck out, firstly the way Nicola would normally text and this wasn't her language. Secondly, the fact that they messaged at 6.23pm asking for the money to be paid by 7pm."
"Also it was a strange sum of money (£1,895.11) and it said it would be paid back tomorrow. Nicola is a single parent with four kids so I knew that money wouldn't be lying about for that to happen.
"I used to work in the bank so I'm very aware of scams and realised this was a game. On this occasion, the English was good and they were quite articulate in what they were asking which isn't always the case.
"In the end I finished off the messages saying 'sorry mate not this time' and funnily enough nothing else came back."
Colin added: "This issue is just rife at the moment and when Nicola put the messages up on her Facebook page on Sunday night, a friend came back and said his mum got the same message that day and rang him straight away.
"If the amount had of been something like £150 some people might have got sucked in but when they threw in this amount of almost £2,000 I thought 'nah don't be daft'.
Colin has now urged others to be on their guard.
"Anything that comes in looking for money to be paid, don't do it. If you get a phone call, put the phone down or if you get a text, ring the person you is asking for the money. Don't just take what's on the screen in front of you so be very careful about paying money to someone else.
"I'm guessing this was sent out to thousands of people in the hope that serval would bite and then they go away and you never hear from them again. As I say others could very easily have been taken in," he said.
Nicola, 38, was equally shocked at being drawn into the scam.
She said: "I found out when my dad called me and asked if I was messaging me. I was sitting with my children in my living room and he told me that someone was trying to scam him out of two grand. Then he sent me the screenshots and I couldn't believe it.
"The language they used was not the sort I would use but someone else could very easily have been caught out as it was very convincing.
"Thankfully my dad is a clever man and tech-savvy so he quickly realised that something was up. If you sent that to someone maybe in their 70s or 80s and they might not be able to quickly detect that it's a scam."
Police have recently warned of an upsurge in cases in Northern Ireland.
For further advice and information visit www.nidirect.gov.uk/scamwiseni or the ScamwiseNI Facebook page @scamwiseni.
If you have any concerns about unsolicited calls, emails or letters then please report it to Action Fraud via their website www.actionfraud.police.uk or by phoning 0300 123 2040.
You can also call police on the non-emergency number 101.
If you receive a suspicious message, whether by email, website or text message you can take the following actions:
- Email – if you feel unsure about an email you have received, you can forward it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Services at report@phishing.gov.uk
- Website – If you have come across a website which you think is fake, you can report it here Report a suspicious website - https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/about-this-website/report-scam-website
- Text message – Report suspicious text messages for free to 7726. Your provider can investigate the text and take action if found to be fraudulent.
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