A user shared his own experiences with us and sent us screenshots of such a conversation. – Thank you very much for this at this point.

Screenshots WhatsApp - Attempted Fraud
Screenshots WhatsApp – Attempted Fraud

It starts as usual: an unknown number writes via WhatsApp and pretends to be a daughter, son or grandson. The cell phone is broken, so the child has a new phone number.

In this case, many people probably don't consider that this doesn't necessarily have to be the case. Because just because the cell phone is broken, you don't need a new phone number, you simply put the SIM card from the "defective" cell phone into another one. – This is just food for thought.

It's always about money!

The supposed child then quickly comes forward with a concern, which always involves the urgent need to make a payment. And that wouldn't be possible because of the telephone change.

Many concerned parents or grandparents transfer the requested amounts to other people's accounts without hesitation in order to help their offspring. These often involve large amounts in the thousands.

No surprise at this point: the money is then gone.

Be suspicious of WhatsApp messages from strangers!

If you receive a WhatsApp message from an unknown number where the sender pretends to be a daughter, son or grandson, you should be suspicious.

In the case of the user who sent us his chat history, the name question was a small trap.
Because as he writes later, he only has one daughter, who even sat next to him during this chat. Under no circumstances should you really ask for the child's name. This is because you are giving out important information that can easily be confirmed by the fraudsters.

The easiest way is to keep the following points in mind:

  • Ask personally if you are contacted by a previously unknown phone number via messenger services such as WhatsApp.
  • Don't just add unknown phone numbers as contacts.
  • Be suspicious if you are asked to pay money via messenger services.
  • Ask the supposed child something that only he or she can answer.
  • Calls the child's previously used phone number.
  • Addressing the child by the wrong name.

We have already warned about this scam in numerous articles ( HERE ), but never tire of continuing to do it when necessary.

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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )