A Cheltenham man has warned people to watch out for a WhatsApp scam that nearly cost him £1,730.
The resident, who lives in Up Hatherley but does not want to be named, said he had a WhatsApp message from someone purporting to be his daughter.
The person said they needed money to pay for a new laptop and couldn’t pay for it via their mobile phone as they had a new one and had not yet set up their banking details on it.
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He said it seemed genuine as the person used the real name of his daughter and asked him how he was, before asking for £1,730.
He said his daughter lived in Australia and so they often communicated via the WhatsApp messaging system.
Not realising it was a scam and thinking it really was his daughter asking for help, he began the process of transferring the money.
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He said: “Like an idiot, I went to pay it online.
“But it got blocked by my bank and I was advised to ring a number which was my bank’s fraud department.
“The bank said it was a very well known scam – people getting messages from family members. They said they recognised the type of scam. Luckily, it (the payment) was all stopped.”
The man spoke to Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime. It said it was also aware of the scam, which it said had been…
