"If you get a message from someone, particularly on WhatsApp from someone who claims to be your child, friend, (or) relative, the first thing to do is go and call the older number," Rickard said.
To protect yourself, Rickard said recipients of suspicious messages should never transfer money to someone they haven't yet spoken to. Especially when they have the name of the person, which they may get from social media, which is a reminder to everyone to keep your privacy settings strong." "We're not used to scammers en mass pretending to be your children, your relatives, your friends. "I think this scam is more personal than a lot that we see," Rickard said. Rickard said that scams of this nature are evolving in ways never seen before. "The ACCC has had about $3.8 million reported to us so far this year, as lost to this scam, but only about 13 per cent of victims report to the ACCC," Rickard said. "Is their fraud team fast asleep or something?"ĪCCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said that the scam is estimated to have pulled in tens of millions of dollars from victims. "My issue was, how does a guy walk into a bank with proof of identity, open an account, right in Australia to Commonwealth Bank and suddenly there's thousands of dollars going into his bank in large amounts every day?" Nearhos asked. READ MORE: Aussie tenants claim they're being evicted over rental complaints Brisbane mother Jen Irishu and husband Chris Nearhos. Nearhos immediately contacted their bank, ANZ, and the Commonwealth Bank, where the funds had been sent, in an attempt to recover their money.īut they were unsuccessful. I thought, 'oh, you stupid woman'," Irishu said. And he said, 'I didn't ask for any money'. "He just said, 'what are you doing'? I said, 'oh I'm paying you the money you asked for'. She then emailed her son the receipt for the transaction, prompting him to call her. Having discussed the decision with her husband, Chris Nearhos, Irishu transferred $3250 to the bank details provided by the scammer. READ MORE: 'If they turn up, run': Disgruntled customers call out pricey plumbing fees
A mother-of-two has issued a warning to parents across the country to look out for suspicious texts or WhatsApp messages as the ACCC clamps down on the 'hi mum' scam.
"He said, 'I have two bills that need to be paid, if I don't pay them today I'll be fined $500'," Irishu said. It wasn't long before the conversation quickly turned to money. "I questioned it, but there were right answers coming back all the time," Irishu said. READ MORE: 'I'm going to take a moment': Tracy Grimshaw shares very special moment after visiting Queen's lying in state
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