A convincing WhatsApp scam where criminals pose as a friend or family member in need has cost victims over £1.5 million this year.
Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, has said the new scam was reported to them 1,235 times between February 3 and June 21 this year.
It involves a scammer sending a WhatsApp message to your phone, starting with the greeting, "Hi dad!" or "Hi mum!" or pretending to be a friend or other family member.
The scammer will say they're texting from a new number because they've lost their phone or it was damaged.
They'll eventually get around to saying that they urgently need a bill paid or need to borrow some money and will ask the message recipient to send money to a particular account.
The criminal will supply their bank details for payment, with some coming back on multiple occasions until the victim realises they’ve been scammed.
Read more: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/alert/friendinneed
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