A Sydney mum was moments away from transferring $5,000 to a scammer posing as her son before she was saved by a moment of quick thinking.
The fraudster asked Lisa, 64, (not her real name) via text messages recently for a whopping $8,900 at first but the mum believing it was her son Tim said she could only pay $5,000.
But it was all part of an elaborate ‘hi mum’ scam which tricked thousands of Australians out of $7.2million last year alone.
After a barrage of texts from her supposed son, Lisa was set to press send on the $5,000 transfer but decided at the last minute to ask a personal question to identify him.
‘What’s your maternal grandfather’s name?’ she asked.
The fraudster asked Lisa*, 64, via text messages for a whopping $8,900 at first but the mum believing it was her son Tim said she could only manage $5,000
She later admitted she listened to a ‘little voice in her head’ that asked, ‘is that really him?’
When she first received a text from the person claiming to be her son, she thought nothing of it.
But it was a part of the rampant ‘hi mum’ ploy, where cybercriminals impersonate family members before exploiting the victim’s sympathies and asking for money.
‘Hi, mum. I have got a new phone and number. You can delete my old one. Can you let me know if you received this message?’ it read.
Once Lisa asked which of her two sons were texting her, the hacker had a name and claimed to be her eldest son, Tim.
Little did Lisa know it was a ‘hi mum’ scam, where…
