A woman has warned others after her mother was targeted by a sophisticated scammer posing as her daughter.
The mum was contacted by the fraudster via a WhatsApp text which claimed to be from her daughter.
She was urged to delete her daughter’s original number and only contact her using the new one.
READ MORE: Waterford GAA club pay heartbreaking tribute to car crash victim Shauna McGrath
Taking to Twitter, the woman said: “I’m keen to warn you about a scam which my lovely, kind mum so nearly fell for. It was incredibly believable. Someone pretends to be you but on a different number, contacts someone close to you and asks them to quickly pay a bill for you before you pay them back. Mum in green”.
The scammer partook in a lengthy conversation with the mum, even answering questions about a parcel.
They wrote: “Hi mum it’s me, this is my new number. You can save this number and delete the old one”.
To which the mum replied: “Will I loose all my pictures if I delete it? Did P say she liked the two piece? If so I’ll post it soonest. Night. Hug all round.”
They said: “No you wont lose anything
“I’ve lost all my files and images”.
The mum asked: “Did P like the set I sent you? I’ll post it if so?”
They replied: “Yes P liked it
“Yes you can send me some
“I thought I saved everything in the backup but nothing is found there”.
Feeling sorry for her daughter, the mum responded: “That’s tragic, does it affect you madly??? Ok I’ll post it. I thought it quite pretty. Xx”
Building up to asking for a huge sum, the scammer said: “It’s been the worse day ever for me
“Are you busy?”
The mum said: “No, watching Chantal 5. Train journeys-s Africa”.
They said: “Alright
“I have another problem…”
The mum said: “Shall I phone you?”
Dodging the request, they said: “Can we call tomorrow?
“I’ve got bills that I need to pay put can’t get into my online banking because its on my old phone and this number is not registered to my band and it will take about 2 days to be registered. Could you pay them for me? I’ll pay it back this week”.
Happy to help her daughter, the mum said: “Yes what do I do?”
The scammer then sent the details needed and asked the unsuspecting mum to send a whopping £2,291.34 to cover the alleged bill.
They asked: “Could you send me a prove of the payment when it’s done?”
Becoming more impatient after the mum failed to respond, they said: “The amount is £2291.34
“Is it done?
“Can you say anything I’m stressed…
“Mum?”
Thankfully the poor grammar and spelling of the fraudster alerted the mum, and she didn’t follow through with the payment.
Taking to Twitter, the daughter said: “Freaky that they have WhatsApp named in your name so it’s even more believable than a random number. Mum had tried to call me but I missed her call.”
She added: “Luckily, their spelling and grammar were terrible so that alerted my mum!”
READ MORE:
Irish mum-of-two believes she had heart attack from stress of losing life savings to cowboy builder
Louis Walsh's boyband already tipped for Christmas number one
Gardai questioning two Dublin Airport workers after cocaine worth €1m seized
Delta Airlines flight bound for Boston declares hydraulics emergency as it diverts to Shannon
Dublin named as most expensive city in Europe for remote workers
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter .
