SALLY SORTS IT: I lost £840 after falling for the ‘Mum and Dad’ WhatsApp scam

I recently lost £840 after falling victim to a WhatsApp scam using my mobile phone. My bank, First Direct, has washed its hands of the incident. Can you please help?

Sally Hamilton replies: You explained in detail that you received a WhatsApp message on your phone saying “Hey Dad thought I’d let you know phones (sic) are broken so I’m using this for now.”

This is what is known as the ‘Mum and Dad’ scam. The scam has been widely reported and addicted to many victims.

Unfortunately, you had never heard of this devious trick – and I include your experience to remind everyone of this nasty fraud, which plays on the good nature of concerned parents.

Basically, parents are tricked by scammers into transferring money to help their kids buy a new phone or make other essential purchases.

You said you fell for it hook, line and sinker because it wasn’t the first time one of your kids asked you to help with a phone problem. You told me you couldn’t count the number of screens, batteries, connectors and other items you’ve replaced for them over the years.

Without any suspicion that you were cheated, you had a WhatsApp conversation with your son’s cheater about the feasibility of repairing the device and whether there was insurance coverage.

The scammer gave a convincing statement that the original phone was so damaged that it could not be used for any form of communication, including surprise, surprise, access to his own bank account.

The conversation went so far that a ‘good friend’ could provide a replacement cell phone.

At that point, you agreed to transfer money to pay for the device until your son could access his own bank account and then pay you back.

It wasn’t until the conversation turned to another “opportunity” – to buy a cheap laptop – that the alarm bells started ringing loudly and you finally woke up from what had just happened. You quickly managed to contact the son in question on his usual number and verify that there was nothing wrong with his mobile phone.

You told me that you immediately called your bank and Action Fraud, but said that no one could or would take action quickly.

You were told to expect a response from your bank and the police within a few weeks, but you knew the scammer would be long gone by then.

First Direct finally wrote to you to confirm that you had been the victim of an “authorized push payment scam.”

Major banks signed a code to pay back innocent victims of such scams and you hoped your bank would reimburse you.

But First Direct, upon investigation, concluded that both they and the receiving bank had adequate fraud prevention measures in place and blamed you for not conducting sufficient checks before transferring the funds.

So no refund was forthcoming.

The scammers were convincing in their dealings with you and there was no reason for you to suspect an imposter was at work, so I asked First Direct to reconsider its response.

A few days later, the bank agreed to refund you in full.

A spokesman for First Direct says: ‘We have fully reviewed the matter and on this occasion, as a gesture of goodwill, we will refund £840.’

This WhatsApp scam infestation is not going away. In fact, I recently got a similar “broken phone” message myself.

Since my kids use nicknames for their dad and me, I knew right away that the request wasn’t real.

The spelling errors in the text also raised a red flag. As a journalist, I am sure that my children have good spelling.

Why is Aviva not paying out?

I am 32 and recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

I have a life and critical illness policy with Aviva but it doesn’t pay because it says I was at high risk of getting breast cancer. During my treatment, I was tested to see if one of seven different genes was responsible. But all gene tests were negative.

Sally Hamilton replies: To be diagnosed with this horrible disease at such a young age must be devastating.

While money won’t take away your health problems, you hoped that your £77,600 Aviva cover could ease some of the financial worries that inevitably arise after a cancer diagnosis.

I contacted the insurer to find out why they rejected your claim and see if there was anything they could do to comply. It has re-examined your case, but I’m afraid the conclusion was the same.

It cannot meet your claim because breast cancer was explicitly excluded from your £20 a month policy when you took it out. This was due to a history of the disease in your immediate family.

Although you later discovered that your condition has no genetic cause, I am sorry to say that it makes little difference in your case.

It’s not just the fact that an insurance policy can’t be changed retroactively, but the prevalence of the condition among your family members is most likely the factor that influenced the initial decision not to provide coverage.

This health history means you should get screened more often, regardless of whether genes were responsible for developing the disease.

Alan Lakey, founder of insurance analyst CIExpert, says: ‘I’m afraid the genetic tests wouldn’t have helped. Statistics are clear that breast cancer in the family is an indication of a higher likelihood of a future claim.

“It’s based on several factors: age at diagnosis and number of close relatives — siblings and mother — who have been previously diagnosed.

‘It is also partly based on the age of the applicant. The older the applicant, the smaller the chance of a future claim, as the age of 45 to 55 is the most important age for diagnosis.’

An Aviva spokesman said: ‘While we sympathize with the customer, when she applied for the policy through her independent advisor, the terms offered contained an explicit exclusion for breast cancer.

‘This was because the client disclosed a strong family history of breast cancer which required her to be placed under increased NHS screening.

“The exclusion was clearly stated on the acceptance offer to the client and her adviser, which she accepted with the policy from March 2021.”

I am very sorry that you are in this terrible situation. However, you did the right thing by reporting the cases of breast cancer in your immediate family.

If an insurer discovers at the time of the claim that a policyholder has knowingly omitted material information, it is likely to deny a payout.

It can be difficult to find critical illness coverage for people with a strong family history of breast cancer, especially when the family was diagnosed at a young age and the applicant is also young.

A financial advisor with access to the entire market may be able to help arrange coverage, but doing so will inevitably cost a higher premium.

The most important thing for you now is that your treatment is progressing well and that you say that it is going well. I wish you all the best for the future.

• Write to Sally Hamilton of Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organization giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send any original documents, we cannot take any responsibility for that. The Daily Mail assumes no legal liability for answers provided.