Brits warned over ‘crafty’ WhatsApp scam that starts ‘hey mum, it’s me’

A woman has taken to social media urging everyone to “be careful” after she was targetted by scammers impersonating her daughter on WhatsApp.

The mum from Bedford posted the warning, along with a screenshot of her conversation with the scammer, in a local Facebook group on Thursday evening (October 7).

She warned: “A new scam. Was sent the below WhatsApp today…fortunately, I called my daughter to chat it through rather than just doing it on WhatsApp! Be careful!!”

In the messages, the scammer said: “ Hey mum it’s me. I got a new number u can delete the old one […] Your oldest and cutest child xx.

“I got the new iPhone. I’m still transferring everything. I have a little problem that I can’t solve… can you help me with it”

Still believing she is speaking to her daughter, the mum explained that she was at work but could try to help.

“Well because of that new device I have to transfer all apps, but the banking app has put a 48-hour security on the app due to fraud. All nice but I have to pay 2 payments,” the fraudster continued.

“Very annoying because I can’t do anything about it. Could you possibly pay for it for me and I’ll return it soon as possible? Sorry to bother u with this”.

At this point, the mum decided to ring her daughter and realised she had been messaging with a scammer.

It follows after a Scottish dad was duped out of £2,000 in the same scam, when the criminals pretended to be his daughter Lauren.

Lauren, from Livingston, hit out at the scammers labelling them “scumbags” and is now desperate to raise awareness of the incident so no one else is conned by the cruel scam.

She told the Daily Record : “The scam is so convincing and WhatsApp is a trusted app. I want to make sure people know as not everyone is as savy as a young person always on their phone.

“They can even get you on WhatsApp now. We are always quite aware of the usual scams like the Royal Mail texts but this is different.

“It has happened to six people this week who have messaged me about it.”

If you’ve been the victim of a scam you can report it to Action Fraud here.

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