Beware if you receive an SMS from a relative indicating that his phone is broken and that he urgently needs money! This is a new scam that arrives in France after having wreaked havoc in other countries.

Beware if you receive an SMS from a relative indicating that his phone is broken and that he urgently needs money! This is a new scam that arrives in France after having wreaked havoc in other countries.

Hackers are constantly increasing their ingenuity to trick their victims and extort money from them. Trapped URLs, fake login pages, LinkedIn serious deepfakes, fake Netflix messages… All the means are good to scam people! And the latest is particularly vicious. Dubbed Hi Hum, this scam has already done quite a bit of damage in Australia, with total damage estimated at approximately $7.2 million for 11,000 victims since the beginning of the year. Also very common in Anglo-Saxon countries, it arrives in France at the end of 2022. Its principle is simple and formidable, as explained by the official Signal-Arnaques platform. The victim receives an SMS from an alleged relative – child or other – asking him urgently for money to replace his mobile phone that is out of order. A distressing situation that encourages you to act without thinking to plunge into the trap…

SMS My phone is broken: the family emergency scam

The scam takes place in several stages that follow a very specific pattern. First, the victim receives a first SMS from his child mentioning a problem with his phone, which immediately worries him, and the emotion prevents him from thinking properly. The usurper then asks him to join him at a new number. The most common message is “Hello mum/dad, my phone is broken. This is my new phone number.” After the victim takes the bait, he rushes her for money to replace the smartphone, while promising to pay her back quickly once he can log into her banking app – money which, of course, obviously, she will never see the color again.

This is the process of “family emergency”, in which the hacker pretends to be a relative in a delicate situation, explains the site on Twitter. Once a victim has bitten, he asks for money quickly in order to get out of trouble: problem abroad, illness, theft, assault… In short, a whole bunch of justifications to explain that he cannot speak on the phone or using his usual device, and that he needs money quickly. The scammer may also ask for personal information in order to use it to defraud other family members. This type of scam is used for several years with its variant of “friend in distress” on Facebook and other social networks, using profile spoofing. It is also a very popular technique when hacking e-mails. France had also suffered a wave of this kind in 2018 through Orange.Fr.

SMS scams: how to detect them?

The crooks go further and further in dishonesty and do not hesitate to set up much more terrifying variants of the “family emergency”. Some go so far as to make victims believe that someone close to them has been kidnapped. and to demand a ransom. In truth, this is a new method of exploiting spoofing, a technique which consists in seizing the new phone or digital identity of a person or a company (operator, bank, etc.) in order to make the victim believe that he is receiving a call from them.It is generally very effective with the elderly, who are generally less comfortable with technology.

In the event that you receive such a message or call, try to remain calm and call the person at their usual number, even if they say they cannot use. Generally, she will answer the phone and assure you that the request is not coming from her. If she doesn’t respond, contact someone who might be with her. This will usually be enough to dispel your doubts, including in the case of spoofing with kidnapping. The important thing is really not to rush! In case of attempted fraud, report it to the platform Spam flag – just register for free – or the government one Pharos. If the scammer has his way, contact the authorities via the platform Cyber-Maliciousness or directly to a police station to lodge a complaint. Be sure to keep the evidence, especially the messages received

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