A MUM has told how she got revenge on a WhatsApp scammer who tried to rip her off by posing as her own KIDS.
June Morton received two messages from a con artist who was pretending to be her child.
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They wrote: “Hi Mum, it’s me. This is my new number, my phone just broke.
“So you can delete that number and save this one.”
June immediately realised that the messages were part of a common scam that has been doing the rounds on Whatsapp for over a year.
But instead of ignoring the texts, she decided to get her own back and wind them up.
She wrote back: “Hiya darling, remind me again who you are xx.”
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The scammers, having no idea that she had figured out their scheme, wrote back: “Your oldest and cutest child xx”.
June then decided to up her prank and wrote: “I’ve got four oldest and cutest children, which one are you? X”
“I have four quadruplets, which one are you!!”
Her messages silenced the conners as they realised they had been played – but that didn’t stop June from pushing further.
She sent them a picture of quadruplet toddlers and wrote: “Please, tell me which one of you are in trouble?????”
After that, the scammers had enough and blocked her.
June told Yorkshire Live: “I thought haha do you think I’m daft”.
She added: “My friends absolutely howled laughing especially at the Google pic of the four babies.”
It’s the latest in a string of similar WhatsApp fraud attacks.
What is the ‘Hey Mum’ scam
Con artists have been hitting WhatsApp users with the ‘Hey Mum’ scam over the course of the last year.
They usually send messaging posing as the son or daughter of the person they are texting.
They tell them that they are in trouble – and need money or a new phone.
Thousands have fell for the scam with Police and even WhatsApp warning the app’s users to be vigilant.
In the UK, you can report a suspected scam email to the National Cyber Security Centre here.
You should always speak to a family member in person or on a phone call before sending them money.
It comes after one gran fell for the scam and lost £6,500.
Another woman was swindled out of thousands by cruel fraudsters who posed as cops.
Action Fraud show that 25 instances of the scam were reported between August and October 2021, with victims losing £48,356.
WhatsApp has been warning people about the fraud.
Policy Manager Kathryn Harnett told Which?: “WhatsApp protects our users’ personal messages with end-to-end encryption, but we want to remind people that we all have a role to play in keeping our accounts safe by remaining vigilant to the threat of scammers.
“We advise all users never to share their six-digit PIN code with others, not even friends or family, and recommend that all users set up two-step verification for added security.
“And if you receive a suspicious message (even if you think you know who it’s from), calling or requesting a voice note is the fastest and simplest way to check someone is who they say they are.
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