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Help with "Phone Crisis"!

(12 Posts)
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annodomini Wed 12-Feb-25 21:47:09

It happened yesterday: I received a message which purported to be my son telling me that his phone was out of action, having been dropped in the sink and I should use another number, which he gave me, if I wanted to contact him. I did think this mishap was uncharacteristic, but heard no more and put it from my mind... until my sonn came round to see me today and I asked if his phone was insured. 'What do you mean?' he said, and then we realised I'd been scammed. He explained that the next step would probably have been to have been asked for money to buy a new phone. So he blocked the scammer's number for me. I certainly would have smelt a rat if there had been a request for money - not something any member of my family would do. Would another mum fall for this?

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Retread Wed 12-Feb-25 22:02:42

Anno it’s a very well-known ruse. I’ve had more than one similar.

Good that you didn’t respond.

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keepingquiet Wed 12-Feb-25 22:03:44

No- I wouldn't fall for it and haven't.
I have had several purporting to be from my kids- but the wording was all wrong and I checked by ringing their usual number.

Apparently it is common to set up a dialogue with the unsuspecting parent and then ask for the money.

So no- I didn't fall for it and have means of checking, other than replying to them straightaway on a fake number.

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baubles Wed 12-Feb-25 23:00:43

It’s been on the go for a couple of years, I’ve had it several times.

I do know someone who unfortunately did respond but as she only has one child who has a habit of losing or damaging phones it did seem perfectly plausible.

It wasn’t long before she realised what had happened and her bank did reimburse the fairly large amount of money.

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maddyone Wed 12-Feb-25 23:19:29

I wouldn’t respond now, but I was foolish enough to fall for it when it happened to me, because it was still a new type of scam then, about three years ago. We did get the money reimbursed by our bank, and the police traced the scammer (he lived in England) and he was convicted and additionally had to pay us compensation for his crime, which actually reduced his sentence by a few months.

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V3ra Thu 13-Feb-25 02:01:49

It wasn’t long before she realised what had happened and her bank did reimburse the fairly large amount of money.

My Dad's account with Lloyds has an extra warning now when I make a bank transfer for him.
In addition to the usual "are you sure" type messages there's a new one saying if it's a fraud and they have to get the money back, they'll deduct a £100 fee.
I suppose it's designed to make us stop and think twice!

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Retread Thu 13-Feb-25 08:34:49

My phone now flashes up a “Suspected Spam” warning for unknown caller calls. It’s strangely reassuring as I mostly don’t answer them anyway. On with O2, they seem to be doing a lot to prevent fraud.

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Retread Thu 13-Feb-25 08:35:50

I’m with, not on with…

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Sago Thu 13-Feb-25 08:38:58

I had this, so I had a bit of fun they did ask me for money, so I went back saying of course how much?
A £100 was requested so I responded to say I would make it £200 if they could give me their full name, date of birth and name the families dog growing up.

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maddyone Thu 13-Feb-25 10:13:49

Did they reply Sago? Or just disappear?

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mum2three Thu 13-Feb-25 10:15:39

Where do these people get the numbers? Is there a directory of mobile phone numbers?

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jusnoneed Thu 13-Feb-25 10:20:50

I had a message which said "Hi mum, this is my new number .."
Blocked and deleted.

Computer generated probably mum2three, someone will have a matching number.

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