Scamwatch is warning a “sneaky and sophisticated” text message ruse targeting parents has already cost Australians almost $4 million.
Key points:
- The ACCC says it has received 2,500 reports already this year about the “Hi Mum” scam
- Australians have already lost $3.8 million to the scam
- A national support service says it has seen cases quadruple in the past three months
Dubbed the “Hi Mum” scam, the criminals impersonate a household member, saying they’ve broken their phone and can’t access their online banking, before asking the victim to transfer money into an account.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says it’s been overwhelmed with complaints about the scam.
“We’ve had about 2,500 reports about it with $3.8 million reported lost to the ACCC and we only get about 13 per cent of complaints, so you can see the real losses are enormous,” ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said.
“It’s very prolific. It’s one of those ones we’ve just been flooded with complaints about, so they clearly are covering Australia.”
The scam was first detected in Australia earlier this year and it is now making its way to regional centres, with no signs of slowing down.
“The graph is still going upwards on this scam, so I think we will continue to see it for a while,” Ms Rickard said.
