“Hi mum,” the first message starts, “I’ve lost my phone.” It carries on with a tale of woe: for some reason the sender has also been locked out of his or her bank account.
Luckily a friend is often on hand to help – it’s their phone that the message comes from, apparently – and if you could just transfer some money to their account that would be great. Alternatively, you might be asked to pay the rent, direct to a landlord, or foot some other urgent bill that has arrived at this time of crisis.
The messages arrive on WhatsApp, or by text. And the fraudsters are not always posing as children – sometimes they pretend to be friends, and sometimes they claim to be parents.
Data from Santander show that among customers of the bank, fraudsters pretending to be someone’s son were the most successful, followed by daughters, then mothers.
Chris Ainsley, the bank’s head of fraud risk management, says the scams are evolving at “breakneck speed”. He says: “We’re hearing of instances where AI voice impersonation technology is being used to create WhatsApp and SMS voice notes, making the scam seem ever more realistic.”
What the scam looks like
A friendly message from someone claiming to be close to you but, crucially, from an unknown number. If you do not respond, there may be several before they give up. If you do respond, the fraudsters are often willing to enter into a conversation, but the details are generic.
Fairly quickly into the exchange they will say that there’s an urgent need for money for something, putting pressure on you to act quickly to help.
The “sender’s” usual bank account will be out of the question for the transfer for some reason, and they will ask that you send it to an account you do not know.
What the messages ask for
Money. They will say that cash is needed, maybe to get a new phone, or for living expenses and ask you to transfer it.
The bank details will be in someone else’s name – they’ll say it belongs to the “friend” or whoever they owe – and the sum of money is typically not a round number. The account is either one belonging to the fraudsters or a third party, who is being used as a money mule.
What to do
If you are worried your loved one is really in trouble, check. Try them on their usual number – and do not panic if they don’t answer straight away.
You could ask a question that you know the other person will know the answer to.
Which? suggests that you protect yourself against future scams of this kind by setting up a family password which you can ask for to check a sender’s credentials.
If you have transferred the cash, call your bank straight away in case it can stop the payment.
WhatsApp messages can be reported via the app – you click on the message and are given the option to report it.
Scam texts can be forwarded to 7726, which goes to the telephone network providers.
You can also report scams to Action Fraud.
Whenever you attempt to transfer the money from your bank it will ask you questions about what is happening. Always answer them honestly, even if the message sender suggests you do otherwise.