The "Hi Mum" WhatsApp scam

How the scam works

A WhatsApp or text message arrives from an unknown number: "Hi Mum" (or Dad), claiming to be your child with a broken or lost phone and a new number. After a little warm-up chat, the crisis lands — a bill that must be paid today, a locked bank app, rent due — and a request to transfer money "just this once", usually a few hundred euro, to an account that isn't theirs "because my banking isn't set up on the new phone yet".

It works because it weaponises the one instinct that overrides scepticism: a parent's reflex to help their child in trouble. Scammers send these in bulk; they only need one worried parent per thousand messages.

What it looks like

The AI twist to know about

Newer versions add short voice notes generated with AI voice-cloning — sometimes built from a few seconds of audio scraped from social media. A message that "sounds like them" is no longer proof it is them. Treat the voice as unverified until you've confirmed through a channel you control.

The one question that defeats it

• Call the old number. Nine times out of ten, your actual child answers, phone entirely un-dropped.
• Ask something only they'd know — the name of their first pet, what you cooked last Sunday. Scammers deflect ("can't talk, screen is cracked, just text").
• Refusal to speak on a call is the tell. A child who needs money urgently will take your call.
• Never transfer to an account "for a friend" — the mismatched account name is the scam's weakest point and they know it.

If money was sent

Contact your bank immediately and ask them to attempt recall of the transfer — speed genuinely matters. Report to the Gardaí (or Action Fraud in the UK). And don't be embarrassed: this scam catches switched-on people every day precisely because it targets love, not stupidity.

Common questions