A doting mother fell victim to cruel scammers who stole thousands of people by pretending to be her daughter and even sending love heart emojis to make the messages more convincing.
Victorian mother Nina Merrilees, who lives near the state border with NSW, didn’t think twice before sending $11,600 after receiving a seemingly innocent text from her daughter.
The message, which appeared on Ms Merrilees’ phone via WhatsApp, read: ‘Hello mum, my phone is broken, this is my new number’.
Mrs Merrilees, a mother of two, said messages like this from her daughter, who lives in New Zealand, were not unusual.
“With our daughter, that’s quite standard practice,” Ms Merrilees told Channel Seven.
“She lived abroad for a number of years and lost her phone, her phone broke… so this was normal to get a new number from her.”
Victorian mother Nina Merrilees lost $11,600 to a scammer posing as her daughter, who lives in New Zealand (pictured together)
Mrs Merrilees sent the money to the scammers in three installments, thinking she was paying for her daughter’s new furniture
The person posing as Ms Merrilees’ daughter asked her to make some urgent payments as the phone was new and did not have a banking app installed.
Again this did not strike Mrs. Merrilees as anything unusual.
“I’m not sure about other parents, but we often make payments for our children and they always pay us back right away,” she said.
Mrs. Merrilees also knew her daughter bought a dog with her husband and assumed the money was for that purpose.
The mother of two sent the sums of $3,450, $3,800 and $4,350 through online payment system Osko, while the person standing by as her daughter promised to pay it all back immediately the next day.
During the text conversation, the scammer kept up the facade by peppering the messages with love heart and smiley face emojis.
Despite sending the money, Mrs. Merrilees felt uncomfortable with the transaction and sent an email to her daughter immediately afterwards.
Her daughter immediately called Mrs. Merrilees from her previous telephone number.
“As soon as I saw that number come up, I knew I had been scammed out of $11,600 and I just felt physically ill,” Ms. Merrilees said.
The scammer peppered the text messages with love heart emojis to maintain the facade that he was Ms Merrilees’ daughter
The “Hi Mom” scam has grown in popularity in recent years
Ms Merrilees immediately informed her bank of the scam but has yet to receive a refund.
As a public service, Ms. Merrilees has decided to warn others by sharing her story.
“My advice is maybe don’t take action right away,” Ms Merrilees said.
“We thought we were pretty excited people and it could happen so easily.”
A spokesperson for Scamwatch said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) received more than 9,700 reports of ‘Hi Mum’ scams in 2022, with a total loss of almost $7.2 million.
“Victims are contacted – usually via WhatsApp – by a scammer posing as a family member or friend,” the spokesperson said.
‘They will claim they have lost or damaged their phone and are contacting them from a new temporary number.
‘The scammer will ask for personal information such as money to urgently pay a bill or replace his phone.’
Scamwatch said anyone who receives a message from a number he or she does not recognize should independently verify the contact by contacting the person the messenger claims to be.
Another way to thwart a would-be fraudster is to ask a question that only the child can know and insist that it be answered.