Cruel new variant of the well-known “Hello Mom” ​​WhatsApp scam exposed

Hackers have overhauled a heartbreaking scam currently circulating among innocent WhatsApp users in the UK.

It is nicknamed the “son and daughter” scam.

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As online scams rose during the UK’s Covid-19 lockdown, a trend emerged with scammers pretending to be a victim’s child on a ‘friend’s phone’ and in a money crunch.

Innocent victims would then send cash to fake bank details provided by the scammers.

But now cyber crooks have added a twist to the popular scam.

Instead, scammers pretend to be elderly parents.

Chris Ainsley, Santander’s head of fraud risk management, told Money Mail: “As the mother-and-father scam has become more well-known and less effective, scammers are reversing the scenario.

“The fraud itself is more or less the same nature.

“You’re posing as someone you know, knowing you’re unlikely to give money to a person on the street, but if it’s family you could. It’s insidious.”

Ainsley said it’s “all about intimacy” and the exploitation of close relationships.

Unless you’re posing as an elderly parent, scammers might try a tactic called “number spoofing.”

In this case, a message appears to have arrived from a number stored in your phone.

But in reality, hackers used technology to disguise the display name instead of appearing as an unknown number.

In the first half of 2022, trade association UK Finance found over 5000 mobile devices infected with malware.

This resulted in £15.7m being lost from the pockets of Brits to cybercrime – which is roughly £3,000 for the average malware-hit customer.

Just yesterday NatWest informed its customers that they are entitled to free cybersecurity software MalwareBytes to fight cybercrime.

Malware is software designed to gain unauthorized access to data such as personal or banking information.

“We are committed to keeping our customers safe and secure and continually invest in new fraud prevention tools and the latest security technology,” said Stuart Skinner, head of fraud protection at the bank.

“I urge you to download MalwareBytes today to ensure you are doing everything you can to protect yourself from this crime.”

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