Cybercriminals often take advantage of the services most used by Internet users to try to trick them into their traps and get personal information, access their bank credentials, take away their account in the app or any other illicit purpose.
Cybercriminals pose as the victim’s son on WhatsApp
In this sense, with more than 2,000 million users around the world, it is not surprising that WhatsApp is one of the services that they try to use the most to carry out their misdeeds. There are many scams that circulate on WhatsApp trying to take advantage of users, and new ones periodically arise in the face of which extreme caution must be taken.
In recent days, a new deception has become popular in the instant messaging app in which the attackers pose as the victim’s son to make them fall for the scam.
According to National Police has denounced, this scam is spreading like wildfire through the instant messaging app. The victimized WhatsApp user receives a purported message from someone posing as your childnoting that your old phone number is no longer in use and “this new number” is now in use.
From there, the conversation begins, and after gaining the victim’s trust, he asks for money. The message can vary, but basically it says something like “I have to pay for something and I don’t have the card in hand”.
🚩ATTENTION
Detected a new mode of #fraud via #WhatsApp ⤵
They contact women and pose as their children to request #money urgently in order to deal with an alleged immediate problem
Share to avoid future victims pic.twitter.com/dEgO2SpNgA
— National Police (@police) August 2, 2022
The amount can also vary depending on the message, but one of the most requested figures is 2,900 euros. The deceived mother or father is asked to make the deposit through a bank transfer to an IBAN number that is provided. There is also another version of the scam that request the money through Bizum.
If asked what the money is for, the so-called son will never clarify. Yes, he answers that he “will return it when he can” or “as soon as he accesses his card”. If the child is mistrusted and asked for some proof of her identity, it will not be provided.
Needless to say, if the transfer is made, the money is never returned. The National Police encourages anyone scammed by this -or another system- on WhatsApp to report the situation.
As a piece of advice, it is recommended to exercise extreme caution before any request for money received through WhatsApp and reconfirm the identity of the person making it before sending any amount of money.
