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A Coventry mum who almost fell for a new WhatsApp scam is urging people to be careful this Christmas. Kasi Reid received a call on the messaging app from someone claiming to be part of the parents’ group at the school her son attends and said she was just moments away from giving him access to ‘absolutely everything.’
Ms Reid was sent a code which the man claimed was to join a WhatsApp group to arrange a Christmas party, reports the Daily Mirror. It sounds harmless enough, but entering the code would have transferred data between the two phones and given the perpetrator access to her WhatsApp.
Realising she was being scammed, Ms Reid hung up the phone on the man when she realised all her personal information could have been given to him, the BBC reported. She believes it was a calculated effort as he called her at around 3pm and said that he was ‘dependent’ on her being ‘distracted.’
READ MORE: CCTV issued in hunt for Coventry man wanted for ‘sexual offences’
Speaking to the BBC, Ms Reid said: “He would have had access to absolutely everything, which was really scary. I do everything through WhatsApp.”
Journalist Hayley Hassall explained that the common scam has actually been around since 2021, but its ‘tactic’ has evolved. She said: “When you get a message on WhatsApp, there are certain signals telling you where that message is coming from.”
Checking to see what country the contact is messaging you from can be helpful in determining whether their claims line up, Hayley said. WhatsApp will also tell you whether they are a contact and if they are in any groups the same as you, which is a great way to eliminate scams where people are claiming to be members of your family, reports the Daily Mirror.
Hayley said: “If you are even slightly worried, call the person you know, call the friend, and ask if they have just messaged you. If not, then you have just been scammed.”
WhatsApp has responded to the scam warning, saying it wants to make its messaging platform the ‘safest place for communication.’ It protects personal conversations with end-to-end encryption, but they said ‘just like regular text messages and calls, anyone who has your phone number may attempt to contact you.’
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