Scammer posed as my son in WhatsApp chat
A SCAMMER on WhatsApp pretended to be a nurse’s son – before conning her out of thousands of pounds.
Toni Parker, 53, believed she was talking to her eldest child, who was serving in the RAF, after she received a message reading: ‘Hi mum.’
Her ‘son’ said he had a new number after dropping his phone in the toilet.
‘It was general chit-chat at first, but then the messages went on to say they needed to borrow money and had no access to their account,’ said mum-offour Ms Parker, of Wolverhampton.
‘I asked why I couldn’t send it to him directly and he said he had no internet banking because of his broken phone. They were very convincing. Who wouldn’t help their own children?’
But after sending £2,430 – cash she saved for a boiler – she told her and husband Doug’s younger son, 17. He contacted his brother, who confirmed she had been tricked. ‘I was in bits, I felt sick to my stomach,’ Ms Parker said.
She called Halifax – but it said it wouldn’t refund her and told her to be more careful. ‘I feel really let down by their response,’ she said. ‘The bank asked why I didn’t call my son to check, but you can’t just call people in the RAF whenever you feel like it.’
Ms Parker added: ‘These scammers are using an emotional connection to catch you off your guard. It may not be a lot of money to some people, but it is to us.’
Halifax said Ms Parker ‘did not take any steps to verify that the message she received from a number she didn’t recognise was genuine’ and had been warned about account inconsistencies.