Have you received a strange text message from your child? If it starts with “Hello mom, dad. My phone is broken”, don’t let yourself be moved…
A new SMS scam is trying to reach parents by playing on their heartstrings. You too may have received a mysterious message in recent weeks. A number you don’t know appeared on your smartphone screen, and out of curiosity, you opened it. Immediately, the tone is set: “Hello mom, dad. My phone is broken” Or “Hi mom, dad. Here’s my new number.” At first glance, nothing alarming. And yet, behind it, there are many scammers trying to get in touch with you to trap you…
A message that emphasizes the urgency
The site cybermalveillance.gouv.fr recently raised the alert on this type of scam which has been circulating across the territory since the end of 2022. Concretely, scammers insist on the urgent reason for their request to lure recipients into their trap and encourage them to communicate personal data. In the message in question, the sender poses as a child who had a problem with his smartphone or his phone number. The latter is supposedly blocked, or the device has been broken or even stolen.
Throughout the message, the child insists that his parent contact him quickly via another number on the WhatsApp mobile application. If the person complies, the scammer will then ask for money to be able to afford a new smartphone or to regularize their situation with their mobile operator. Which is a false pretext! The amount requested is generally quite substantial and for the transfer to be made, of course, the parent must provide their bank details or send a photo of their credit card. If the person contacted falls into the trap, they risk having money stolen, along with their banking details. In more specific jargon, it is a form of phishing, or pishing in English, which aims to deceive the victim in order to extract money or important information.
What should you do if you receive a message like this?
The first reflex, which the authorities recommend, is not to respond to this type of message. If you’re not sure who the sender is, you might as well move on. Then the important thing to do is to call your child directly on their real number. By doing this, you will be able to find out whether or not he has a problem with his phone. If he doesn’t respond right away, don’t panic and try to contact him by another means: by sending him a message on his social networks or to his email address, by contacting one of his friends that you know , etc.
If you want to go further, you can also report the message in question on the secure platform 33700which fights against voice and SMS spam, or on the platform of the Ministry of the Interior internet-signalement.gouv.fr. And if you have unfortunately been duped and you have communicated your information, first alert your bank to oppose the transaction and go to your police station or gendarmerie to file a complaint.