{"id":1570,"date":"2025-07-15T06:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T06:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/1570\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T06:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T06:01:07","slug":"all-uk-whatsapp-users-given-urgent-reminder-and-ignoring-it-will-be-costly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/1570\/","title":{"rendered":"All UK WhatsApp users given urgent reminder and ignoring it will be costly"},"content":{"rendered":"

With billions of users across the planet, it’s no surprise that WhatsApp<\/a> is such a popular target for cyber crooks attempting to cash in. This hugely popular chat platform continues to be firmly in the sights of online criminals, and there’s a particular scam that UK users are being reminded about.<\/p>\n

The infamous “Hi mum” attack<\/a> hasn’t gone away and remains a highly effective way for crooks to steal money from unsuspecting WhatsApp users.<\/p>\n

For those not aware, this threat begins with a simple message that usually starts with “Hi mum” or “Hi dad.” If a victim responds, the crooks then start saying that their phone has been lost and that they need money to buy a new one.<\/p>\n

It might sound far-fetched, but hundreds of thousands of pounds have been handed to criminals in the UK alone.<\/p>\n

Recent stats from Santander UK revealed that fraudsters who pretended to be someone\u2019s son were the most successful. This was then followed by daughters, then mothers.<\/p>\n

Now, in a bid to stop more people from become a victim, the team at Action Fraud has released a reminder<\/a> telling WhatsApp fans to be alert.<\/p>\n

“Beware of fraudsters posing as friends or family, and claiming to need urgent financial help,”Action Fraud explained in a message posted on X (formerly Twitter).<\/p>\n

“If a family member or friend makes an unusual request on WhatsApp, always call the person outside of WhatsApp to confirm their identity.”<\/p>\n

Along with being alert, Action Fraud also says it’s vital to block any strange messages and submit a report if you think you have been a victim of this messaging scam.<\/p>\n

Explaining more, Action Fraud said: “Report spam messages or block a sender within WhatsApp. Press and hold on the message bubble, select \u2018Report\u2019 and then follow the instructions.<\/p>\n

“If you lost money as a result of the scam message, please report it to Action Fraud.”<\/p>\n

So, the advice remains clear. If you get a message from an unknown number, do not respond. If the message says it has come from a family member, head to your actual contacts and give them a call. You’ll then find out if it’s a scam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With billions of users across the planet, it’s no surprise that WhatsApp is such a popular target for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,1236,56,54,55,1235],"class_list":["post-1570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-tech-section","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}