The best way to do this is to speak to them over the phone, video call or, better yet, in person. Remember that on the Internet (and yes, this includes messaging apps) just because someone claims to be a certain person, it doesn’t mean they really are that person.Īs such, never send money to anyone until you verify their identity.
How to avoid the WhatsApp “friend/family member in crisis” scamįollowing sensible cybersecurity advice will ensure you don’t fall foul of these criminals. The scammer then claims they need money to be sent to them urgently in order to pay some bill or invoice. To widen their chances of success, scammers will use generic greetings such as “hey mum”. However scammers can use certain tricks to widen their chances of scamming a victim. This can be difficult given that in most circumstances the scammer will know very little about the victim. For the scam to work, the scammer has to persuade the victim that they are a family member with a new phone number. This scam is essentially a confidence scam. I got a new number u can delete the old one This is my temporary number from now on you can save it in your contacts. You’ll never guess what happened to me today. I’ve changed from provider this is my new number you can delete my old number ok xx
Some examples of these scam messages are below. The victim pays over the Internet, unaware that they are talking to a scammer, and not a family member or friend.
The scammer sends a message on WhatsApp to a victim claiming to be a family member or friend.The template of this scam is as follows – In this case the message will appear to come from a family member or friend on WhatsApp. Please note that articles on this site may contain affiliate links.Ĭriminals are posing as family members or friends on WhatsApp to lure victims into sending money in a trending scam that has targeted users of the popular messaging app.Īs with many types of online scams circulating cyberspace, this particular scam starts with an unexpected message.
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