When retired estate agent Chrissie Fraser received a text message from her adult daughter Camilla asking for a loan of £1,209.78 to pay off a debt she owed to bailiffs, she immediately sprang into action.
The concerned mother logged into her mobile banking app and immediately made the payment.
The 74-year-old felt comfortable making large payments on behalf of her daughter to help sell her flat in Fulham, west London, in the previous months.
Anything that would have jeopardized the sale – including bailiffs knocking on the door – would have been disastrous.
But in less than three hours, Chrissie’s decision would cost her more than £4,400 via a vicious scam.
Cruel trick: Chrissie Fraser was tricked into handing over £4,403 to a con artist posing as her daughter
Her daughter Camilla, 38, a teacher who lives in Chicago with her Australian husband and toddler, had texted from a new number.
“Mommy, it’s me,” the message read. “My phone has water damage, so I’m using this temporary number.” Chrissie had replied ‘that’s frustrating’ and then told her daughter about the progress of the sale of the flat Chrissie was managing for her in Britain.
Her daughter asked a few questions about the property and how her mother was doing.
Half an hour after that first message, Camilla asked for a loan.
“She said she was worried because bailiffs were chasing her. Emotions kicked in and I panicked,” her mother says.
Chrissie, who retired last year, made an initial payment of £1,209.78. Then Camilla told her she needed money to pay a separate late payment fee of £983.20, which her mother had also sent.
“She said she’d pay me back,” says Chrissie.
Minutes later, her daughter said she needed another £2,210.44 to pay the bailiffs.
‘As a real estate agent, I knew that if bailiffs were sent to the flat, a cloud would hang over the sale of the property: that would stop everything.’
Confused as to why her daughter was in so much debt, Chrissie asked what the loan was for.
She was told, “For a subscription I accidentally took out some time ago.”
“Good God, for what?” Chrissie asked again. But there was no answer, only a request for more money.
Concerned about her daughter, Chrissie tried calling the number she used for the Whats-App messages. “There was a loud beeping noise on the other end of the line and Camilla said her speaker was broken,” she says.
Her daughter then tried to reassure her via text message that her debt problems would now be solved, thanks to her mother’s help.
The messages read, “Bailiff company I’ve paid before so I know it’s all legit xx” and “If I appeal against it, I’ll get all the money back.”
At that point, Chrissie had made three transfers totaling £4,403.42. But when she tried to make a fourth payment, her bank, Santander, froze her account due to unusual, suspicious activity.
She says: ‘Camilla wanted a final payment of £720, but I couldn’t send it. She started pressuring me to use my other bank account and said she would miss the deadline with the bailiffs if I didn’t.
“That’s when I realized it wasn’t my daughter I was talking to because she didn’t want to use that language and didn’t warn about missing deadlines. I was cheated.
‘I felt like an idiot. It’s terrible, but I would do anything for my children.’
Chrissie wasted no time confronting the scammers, saying, “You scum. I’m calling the police.’
Within seconds, her phone lit up with the message, “That b***h.”
She replied to warn again that she was calling the police. But unfazed, the sassy crook taunted Chrissie with a photo of himself rummaging through sportswear: “Go shopping with your money x.”
Chrissie says, “I was shaking when I saw the photo. These are nasty and frightening people. You might as well get mugged on the street; it really shocked me.’
The mother of three had been the victim of one of Britain’s most common misfortunes. Parents are bombarded with WhatsApp messages from crooks posing as their children begging for money.
Money Mail exposed the trick – dubbed the “Mum and Dad” scam – over 18 months ago. But today it is still widespread.
Usually the first message says that the child has lost or broken their phone and is using a temporary number.
But these text messages are actually sent by scammers who then provide bank account information for payments – and disappear with the money.
Chrissie says, “I’m tech savvy – I’m not some poor old lady. But the scammers are so credible.’
Wayne Stevens, national fraud leader at the charity Victim Support, says fraud can undermine victims’ confidence and trust in others and cause long-term damage.
Impostor: Artificial intelligence enables fraudsters to clone voices, including those of the intended victim’s friends and family
He says: “Fraudsters often take advantage of people’s goodwill, tricking them into believing they are passing on money to help someone they love. This can be detrimental to victims’ sense of self and lead to feelings of shame.’
After speaking to Santander, Chrissie was refunded half of the lost amount. When Money Mail took up its case, a spokesman for the bank said the refund would be reviewed.
‘I have been a customer of Santander for 40 years. You turn to the institutions when something bad happens, but you don’t get the care you expect,” says Chrissie.
“Obviously they saw a red flag for freezing my account. But they only paid back half of what I lost. It is a shame.’
Banks usually want to see evidence that victims have taken reasonable steps to question the person they messaged.
The most common advice from the banks is to try calling the number and talk to the friend or relative claiming to need your help before sending money.
But new technology, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), can make even phone calls unreliable.
Sophisticated software allows fraudsters to clone voices. They then call in the voice of their target’s relative, pretending to be in trouble, before begging for money for help.
This is already happening in the US and security software company McAfee has warned it could spread to countries like Britain.
Research from McAfee shows that scammers need just three seconds of audio, easily extracted from a social media clip, to clone a person’s voice.
Liz Ziegler, director of fraud prevention at Lloyds Banking Group, says social media fraud is not opportunistic.
“Almost all scams are perpetrated by organized criminal gangs that run their business like a business to fund terrorism, the drug trade and other criminal enterprises,” she adds.
Double Check: Banks usually advise hanging up and calling the number back to speak to your relatives before sending money
Money Mail’s Stop the Social Media Scammers campaign calls on the tech giants to take responsibility for fraud on their platforms and share the cost of compensating victims.
Earlier this month, we revealed that as many as 1.1 million people a year fall victim to scams originating from social media platforms operated by tech giant Meta.
Ms Ziegler says these platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, provide an open door for fraudsters to reach their victims – with nearly 80% of scams starting online.
“It’s about time the technology and social media companies share the responsibility to protect their customers, stop scams at the source, and contribute to refunds when their platforms are used to defraud innocent victims,” she says.
More than half of people in Britain have been targeted by impersonation, with the number receiving text messages rising by 77 per cent in the year to September 2022, according to Santander.
Jim Winters, director of economic crime at the Nationwide Building Society, says fraudsters tend to randomly send out a large number of messages in the hope that someone will identify with them.
He believes tech companies, including WhatsApp, should take more responsibility in compensating victims, but also help prevent the scam from the start.
He adds: “Controls on social media platforms have yet to catch up to other industries (such as banking), allowing criminals to target their victims almost freely.”
Before sending money, you should call your family member on the original number you have for him or her. If you can’t reach them, call the number they’re texting you from, says Mr. Winters.
Fraudsters will usually find an excuse not to call, so keep an eye out for these warning signs. Don’t be hasty about anything.
A WhatsApp spokesperson said: “WhatsApp protects our users’ private messages with end-to-end encryption, but we can all play a role in keeping our accounts safe by staying vigilant about the threat of scammers.
We recommend that all users set up two-step verification for added security and never share their six-digit PIN with anyone.
“If you receive a suspicious message – even if you think you know who it’s from – calling or requesting a voice message is the quickest and easiest way to verify that someone is who they say they are.”
n Have you fallen victim to an AI scam? Tell us at: moneymail@dailymail.co.uk
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