A warning has been issued as hundreds continue to fall for the ‘Hi Mum/Dad’ text scam.
Bank of Ireland is urging the public to be wary of the ‘Hi Mum/Dad’ scam after a 25% rise in scam messages.
Scammers are pretending to be a person’s child by sending ‘Hi Mum/Dad’ messages. They claim they’re using a different phone after losing theirs.
They then ask the parent for money and request their card and bank details.
The increase in these scam messages may be because of the number of people on holiday. Parents will understandably fall for scam texts like this if their children are travelling as they are very convincing.
The public should look out for the following format:
“Hi Mum/ Hi Dad, this is my temporary/ new number…”
The fraudster will then ask the parent to help them pay for something urgently. They will then tell them to send the money to a specific bank account or for their card details.
They may also ask for the money to be sent via Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Head of Fraud at BOI, Nicola Sadlier, said: “If a text prompts you to act immediately – stop, think, and check before reacting. Our advice to customers is, no matter what you’re being told in a text, always call your son or daughter back on the number that you know.”
“The sense of urgency in this current wave of text messages is deliberately designed to cause panic.
“This means customers are unfortunately acting on the request before considering a rational response.
“If a text prompts you to act immediately – stop, think and check before reacting. Our advice to customers is no matter what you’re being told in a text, always call your son or daughter back on the number that you know.”
If you get a suspicious message then email a screenshot of the message to [email protected].
You should then delete the text message.
If you have fallen for a scam message then you can call Bank of Ireland’s 24/7 Freephone line 1800 946 764.
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