"Hi Mum" scam alert....

[Summerhouse2013]

Please be aware of the latest mobile phone scam...

My son is at Uni, I received a text message from a random number saying "Hi mum, i've smashed my phone (he has done this in the past to be honest), i'm calling from a friend's mobile but it's about die, here is my new number, can you whatsapp message me on it"

I sent a message, asked if he was ok. A few messages backward & forwards & then he said he was stressed because he couldn't pay some bills that day as the bank had frozen his account, he would pay me back in 2 days. He then said he would send his bank details to me, which I knew was odd as I know his bank details as we pay him some money every month.

I then texted this new number and said "Hi son, have seen a few of these new scams going around regarding mobiles, can we have a quick chat to make sure it's you that is texting me" I had no reply despite calling a few times & I could see the person was online....

Please be careful folks....it was only a programme on the TV a few weeks ago that alerted me to this.....

Missing the point of the thread but really intrigued by this!

Thank you...I was only trying to warn people who may not know about this scam...and what I've gathered is this scam has escalated.

My friend received one of these last week. She replied asking the person to give her middle name and son’s middle name to confirm it was him. Of course she heard no more.

Yes I had this the other week. Knew it was a scam - my DCs were all at home with me at the time, and also it was oddly worded - ‘from your eldest child’.

However I can understand how people fall for it especially elderly people who are not very tech savvy.

It's par for the course on here unfortunately. 🙄However there will be people who haven't heard about it and now they have thanks to you.

Yes - if the OP's post stops even one person falling for this scam it will be worthwhile.

I don’t think it’s fair to call people stupid if they fall for this, it can be very convincing.

I’ve had a rash of these messages over the last few months and as my children are only two and four, I knew it was utter bullshit from the get go. I send back a sweary message just to make myself feel better (granted that’s very immature) then block. All we can do is raise awareness to stop people falling for it, but then the contemptible pricks will simply up their game and move onto the next thing. I just hope there’s a special place in hell reserved for them.

I've had several of these over recent months but last week I got this new one asking me to WhatsApp. This coincided with the fact that I knew DS (26) was having problems with his phone and SIM so it was plausible.
However I knew that a) he wouldn't know my mobile number off by heart and b) he would borrow a friend's phone and ring me in emergency.

@Tezza1

A lot of the time thebscammers will say I have smashed my phone and I'm texting from my friends phone, please contact me on this number. And then a back and forth will begin where they make out that they are the victims child and need a certain amount of money for and and a certain amount for xyz.

And then a back and forth will begin where they make out that they are the victims child

Exactly - they do this to build your trust.

My friend got one of those. Her son is only 2 though so was easy to spot!

Don't people actually speak to their children anymore?

I would hope that if I ever got one of these, I would get a chance to speak to DS. And if he lost his phone, he wouldn't even know my mobile so maybe he would have to email me.

I got one a couple of months ago. As a PP noted, the message came from one number, but asked me to contact them on WhatsApp with a different number. So, two numbers? 🤔

Was obviously none of my three adult DC... one DD calls me Mama, the other DD Mummy, and DS somehow avoids calling me anything at all! No one calls me Mum.

If you’re a brummie it wouldn’t work. Nobody is going to say Hi Mum. It’s Mom 🙃

The messages are sent out from scam factories to random numbers possibly computer generated, they don't know anything about the person who happens to receive it

@EEastie77Returns burner phone because they're having an affair?

(Apologies if whoever posted that isn't having an affair but I've been on MN too long😂 !)

Ds2 calls me Mumma Bear so I know any broken phone messages aren't from him!!

I assumed so but didn’t want to say😂

No, I’m intrigued by the person who has a phone only one other person knows about (not the scam)

5 grand?!

Can I have her number? Ah no but seriously how awful for your Mum. Scammy scummy bastards.

Those scam messages are odd, it says they've smashed their phone so using a friend's but also gives their new number.

Why not text from your new number then supposed child of mine?

Anyway my older teen only texts in single characters, how anyone could think a message written entirely in complete words with no abbreviations came from a teen I don't know.

I've had a couple of them.

If my kids really had smashed their phone, they wouldn't remember my mobile number anyway. They've never memorised it.

We had this recently I had some "fun" with the scammers including the phrase "I don't like your tone young lady" this got lots of apologies I then said I'd put the money into her BFF account. That didn't go down well 😃. I'm the end I made it clear I knew they were scammers

DS would be having bad luck - as any money sent to him would be going to his bank account.

So he would have to lost his phone and then the bank would have frozen his account as well.

How many people's DC actually start a text with "Hi Mum" anyway?