“Mom, this is my new phone. My mobile is broken. I can not call. Can you send me a Whatsapp message through Whatsapp?”. This is the text of the SMS that is sent as a new scam and seeks for the recipient to communicate with said unknown number through the Meta instant messaging application, to start a new conversation. That's where the scam starts.
The National Police has warned, through social networks, how to act in case of being recipients of these messages that they are looking for, as is usual to scam victims. Thus, they indicate some guidelines to follow to prevent criminals from achieving their objective.
Although the broadcast SMS is addressed to the mother, there is also a variant for the father. The text, in addition, should be noted that it ends with a link that, when clicked, sends the user directly to a private WhatsApp chat with that unknown number. According to what the Police indicate, it is important, first of all, to remain calm in order to verify what the message says, whose ultimate goal is to get money. So, secondly, the security forces stress the importance of not making any payment to said interlocutor.
Thirdly, they indicate the most important thing: contact the son or daughter through a phone call, to verify the facts. It should be noted, in case they do not pick up the call, that in case the mobile phone breaks, the SIM card can be removed and put in a new device. The phone number would remain and, therefore, you could send a message from any platform using your usual number.
Once the information has been verified, the Police advise blocking the number from which the scam SMS was sent to avoid new interactions with said number, in addition to deleting the message.
People who do not have children and have received this message have taken the opportunity to make fun of the scammers. This is the case of Elena, a 22-year-old Twitter user who shared the conversation on the social network. The scammer wanted to defraud the user with two payments of 1,923.45 euros. Elena, who baptized her interlocutor as José, was talking to him for 3 days. She even called him on the phone, but to no avail. The user continued with the joke and created a false bank receipt to make her believe that she had proceeded with the payment, but she never heard from him again.
Twitter user @elenahoudson was also a victim of this scam attempt. She shared her experience from her account, noting that she took the opportunity to "put on a soap opera", and added the screenshots of the conversation.
Despite the fact that there are many people who manage to detect that it is a scam, the authorities advise against entering into conversations with said cybercriminals for greater security.
