Consumer choice website Which? has received an increasing number of reports about scammers impersonating a son or daughter-in-need and asking for financial help on WhatsApp
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Scammers are manipulating caring Brit parents into emptying their bank accounts by pretending to be a child in need of financial help.
There has been a huge spike in “hello mum” and “hello dad” fraud cases which involve fraudsters posing as family members.
The sinister con is already thought to have swindled £50,000 from the pockets of concerned parents across the UK, consumer magazine Which? reports.
A series of text messages shared by the publication show the fraudster’s mode of operation as they try to con one mum out of her hard-earned cash.
The scammer – who messages from an unknown number – starts the conversation by pretending to be the target’s daughter.
In an attempt to make the message less suspicious, the fraudster says the daughter lost her phone – the reason behind her change of number.
As the conman sets up the request, they say: “I’m ashamed to ask you this… But I have overlooked something very important. x”.
The scammer’s fabricated story involves the daughter being unable to do an urgent online banking transaction after being locked out of her account when she got a new number.
The message reads: “Well mum, I can’t do the banking…
