Scam for today: "hi mum"

[CalicoPusscat]

I do not have children. I received this earlier.

Please be aware of dodgy texts!

Huh. Bad one.

Ds and I inadvertently set up a code - we don't end our texts with x or xx but a particular ending that I havent often seen elsewhere. It meant when I got a 'hi mum lost my phone need some money' text I knew it wasn't him.

It's quite a common one isn't it? Not least to say it starts with wa.me! Shit outta luck. I just rolled my eyes.

I had the ‘I’m stranded, my phone has died, can you send me money?’ (or words to that effect) message a few weeks ago. Even though I had heard of it before, it did give me a split second of wondering because my 16yo was in town by himself. The expression used, though, was nothing like his usual way of wording a text. It was a bit dramatic and he’s the opposite of dramatic🤣

A timely reminder to invent a code word and drum it into your family to remember it.

I'm thick and 65. What does 'wa.me' mean, please? So that I know for the future? Thanks.

I don't know exactly but when someone texts you it comes up with the number.

In this case it was obviously a scam as
A) I'm not a mother now
B) it's a dodgy premise if it starts with wa.me or similar! Scammers are scammers.

If I'd responded next step would have been negotiations about money.

Thanks. I've just never heard of wa.me.

I frequently get emails from Scammers claiming to tell me that I'm locked out of Netflix and the like. What I can't understand is why they think that I'd fall for an email from a Hotmail address...

I also got a wonderful email from a Nigerian scammer one time, offering me the inheritance from the estate of a surname that I'd completely made up for a throw-away account that I sometimes use to sign up for websites - something along the lines of "Bumpovic".

I actually wrote back and told them how upset that I was to hear that my beloved uncle Arnold Bumpovic had passed away...

@WearyAuldWumman i think it means WhatsApp me?? I'm assuming that though

WhatsApp me but because there Is a full stop this is often a link to something else,

I've had the Hi mum one we never text on WhatsApp unless it's in our family group, generally they message on messanger

I get so many of these that if DD texts me from a friend's phone she'll refer to something from our last conversation or plans for tomorrow, etc. She'd forget the code word so no point in doing that 😂

I had a great time baiting them recently! I’ll do it again, just to waste their time.

I’ve had the hello mum scam. A day later my DD genuinely had her phone stolen and contacted me from a friends phone. Poor thing could hardly convince me it was her!

Mum’s had similar twice. The first time she was falling for it until she got a text while I was with her. The second time she was wise to it!

Why didn’t she just ring you?

The most recent one I’ve had is both a phone call or a text saying “add me to WhatsApp, I need to discuss work with you.”

Aha! Thank you!

Thank you. :)

I only started using WhatsApp when my cousin's daughter set it up on my phone with a group for me and my cousins. I'm still coming to grips with it.

I’ve not had this one for a while but I’ve had quite a few “we’ve seen your CV and would like to discuss it further” texts recently. I don’t know if this has been related to the M&S breech or not as it’s been since then I’ve had them but could also be coincidence, I’ve had LOADS of them though.

And it’s a bloody miracle if they’ve seen my CV, I’m a carer for my youngest child and I’ve not actually had a CV for around two decades now.

Oh I love these! I play along (but I never get links to click)

”my love! Do you need money?”
”but you owe your dad £2 from last week. So once you transfer that, I’ll send over the 20k”
”why aren’t you responding?”
”you ingrate child!”

and just go fully into dramatics and hysteria

I received a call from a man who claimed I had just called him. I usually don’t answer the phone if I don’t recognise the number, but I had been making arrangements with a mechanic to pick up my car and I thought it was him. I continued to think it was him because the mechanic is Polish and this guy sounded Polish too! So I unleashed a whole load of gibberish on him apologising for butt dialling him, blathering on about the car and the possible cost of repairs and what time I would be home. He hung up😄 it was then that I noticed it wasn’t the mechanic’s number. And that I had never called it in my life. The following week I received a text from a different number claiming I had tried to call them and that they would call me back. They did, while I was still reading the text, but I didn’t answer. Not sure what the scam could be, but it was a bit weird.

I love baiting them too, messed one lot around for an hour, they asked for my password, and I gave it as F..ko.f. I still chuckle about it.

I’m normally very perceptive with scams but I did get a text saying mum please message me on my friend’s number I’ve lost my phone. DS was actually in at the time! I do have the numbers of his two best mates so if I got another one, I’d always message them first and DS obviously before responding.

Your number had probably been spoofed by scammers, so those would’ve been real people who had missed calls from what looked like your number but were actually from scammers.