A retired dad lost almost £7,000 to scammers on messaging website WhatsApp, after cyber criminals sent him a message purporting to be his daughter.
Gerry Ellis was targeted earlier this month by criminals who sent him a message out of the blue, claiming to be his child.
“I have just been caught and lost nearly £7,000,” Gerry Ellis, 80, told The Mirror.
"My daughter is going through a divorce at the moment, and it seemed to make sense," he said.
"The text said she'd changed her number and her bank because of the divorce and asked for money to pay a bill, so I said yes, sure.
"She sent the amount for £2,800. When I asked what it was for, she said it was a medical bill that she did not want to talk about.
"I went online and checked the name and the doctor, and it was a genuine doctor, so I paid it. This happened four times in total in which they asked for help to pay emergency bills.
"My bank initially blocked it but I called them up to OK it and they did some checks and put it through.
“It’s a very clever scam,” he added. "On the fifth attempt, I realised it was suspicious. I'm devastated," he said.
Gerry has saved transcripts of the conversation and has now reported it to Action Fraud and his bank, but the reality is he is not alone.
Fraudsters are posing as children and family members to trick parents into handing over thousands of pounds on the messaging platform.
Official figures show almost £50,000 has already been lost to "hello mum" and "hello dad" frauds - which often begin with a text or phone call.
Often the calls are made to random numbers obtained through other targets' phone books, with the scammers hoping that they will access a parent.
The criminals claim they are texting from a new mobile number as their phone was lost or damaged and go on to ask for money to purchase a new device, or money to pay an urgent bill.
Figures from Action Fraud show that 25 instances of the scam have been reported between August and October, with victims losing a combined total £48,356.
One reader’s partner recently received the message, followed by her dad on the same day.
“My partner's dad received a text on WhatsApp with the same message,” he told us.
“He almost fell for the scam, they were asking for £800 saying that my partner’s card had been frozen and she needed money to pay for something immediately.
“Lucky he didn't have good internet that day at work so said he needed to wait until he was home to send her the money.
“During his commute home, my partner rang him for a catch up and it was then that he realised he had almost been scammed for £800.”
Another reader told us the message came from the number: 07543182446 but luckily they did not take any action.
A fourth said: “I was contacted yesterday by ‘my son’ from a temporary number because his phone had ‘broken’.
“I was messaging this scammer thinking it was my son until he asked for help with a payment and alarm bells rang.”
“This person is still using WhatsApp but stopped messaging me because he/she realised I was not going to send any money.”
A report by Santander this week showed there was a 532% increase in the scam between August and November 2021.
In 65% of cases, the fraudster impersonated the victim’s son, in 33% of cases, the daughter, and in 1% of cases, a friend or mum.
The bank's head of fraud control, Chris Ainsley, said: "These crooks are successfully getting into people’s heads and persuading them to hand over their hard-earned cash. Don’t let them win – verify who you’re messaging, before sending money."
Santander shared one message from a woman called Mrs M who lost £749 to the scam.
The mum received a WhatsApp message while she was abroad from who she believed to be her daughter on an unknown number.
The WhatsApp said that her daughter had changed her mobile number and asked that her mum saved the new number.
Her ‘daughter’ then sent her a WhatsApp to say that she was in the process of buying a new MacBook Pro, but her bank had temporarily frozen her out of her account for 48 hours, as her new number hadn’t been recognised by the bank.
She claimed that she needed £749 to be paid immediately, so she could get the new laptop.
Mrs M made the payment for £749 and received a WhatsApp thanking her for making the payment, saying that she hoped she was having a nice time away and how she looked forward to hearing about her travels when she returned to the UK.
WhatsApp says if you receive an unexpected message from a loved one on a number you don’t know or receive a suspicious message, either phone them back to verify that it’s them or ask them a personal question that only they would know the answer to.
If you think you’ve already been the victim of a WhatsApp scam, report it to your bank straight away.
The messaging platform has launched a stop, think, call campaign in partnership with the National Trading Standards’ Friends Against Scams to help warn the public.
“We are seeing an increasing number of reports of ‘Friend in need’ scams in recent months,” said Louise Baxter, head of the National Trading Standards scams team and Friends Against Scams.
“Scammers send messages that appear to come from a friend or family member asking for personal information, money, or a six-digit PIN number.
“The messages are sent from the compromised accounts of your friends, so they look as if they’re coming from someone you know, or from an unknown number claiming to be a friend who has lost their phone or been ‘locked out’ of their account.
“These kinds of scams are particularly cruel as they prey on our kindness and desire to help friends and family.”
Kathryn Harnett, policy manager at WhatsApp, said: “We advise all users never to share their six-digit PIN code with others, not even friends or family, and recommend that all users set up two-step verification for added security.
“And if you receive a suspicious message (even if you think you know who it’s from), calling or requesting a voice note is the fastest and simplest way to check someone is who they say they are. A friend in need is a friend worth calling.”
STOP. THINK. CALL.
STOP : Take Five before you respond. Make sure your WhatsApp two-step verification is switched on to protect your account; that you're happy with your privacy settings, and your six-digit pin is secure.
THINK : Does this request make sense? Are they asking you to share a PIN code which they have had sent to you? Are they asking for money? Remember that scammers prey on people’s kindness, trust and willingness to help.
CALL : Verify that it really is your friend or family member by calling them directly, or asking them to share a voice note. Only when you’re 100% sure the request is from someone you know and trust, should you consider it. If it turns out to be untrue, report It to Action Fraud.
