Victorian Police say they’ve identified “at least” 25 victims of the “Hi Mum” mobile phone scam, issuing a warning about the hoax that’s designed to “pull on the heartstrings.
Detectives are now investigating the scam, believed to have originated from Europe.
It involves a scammer sending a text message from an unknown mobile phone number to a victim, claiming to be their son or daughter.
As the conversation develops they will say they’ve lost their phone, before making a request for emergency money – generally they’ll say they’ve been locked out of online banking.
Once one transfer has been made, the offender will frequently request another sum of money, police say.
Detectives say they’ve found “at least” 25 victims of the scam believed to be linked to a series of offending dating back to January.
