How the scam works
You get a WhatsApp or SMS from an unknown number. The sender says they are your son or daughter, their phone is broken or lost, and this is the replacement number. The tone is casual and affectionate - scammers copy the way adult children actually text.
Then comes the ask: an urgent bill, a payment that "won't go through", a deposit that expires today. The amount is usually painful but payable - a few hundred pounds. If you pay, a second "emergency" often follows within hours.
The scam is cheap to run and sent to thousands of parents at once - the message says "Mum" or "Dad" because anyone who answers likely has a child. In 2022 the UK's Action Fraud logged over a thousand reports of this scam in a few months, with reported losses in the millions of pounds; most cases are never reported.
Red flags
- A new number plus an urgent payment. Either alone can be innocent; together they are the scam's signature.
- Reasons you can't call. "My mic is broken", "I can only text" - the scammer cannot survive a voice call with a parent.
- Pressure and secrecy. Deadlines measured in minutes; "please don't tell Dad, he'll worry."
- Payment to an unfamiliar account. The "bill" goes to a personal account you have never seen.
What to do, step by step
- Don't reply about money. You lose nothing by pausing - a real child can wait ten minutes.
- Contact your child on the number you already have saved. Call or text the old number, even if the message says it's broken. This is the whole trick: the scammer controls the new number, but not the one in your contacts. Security professionals call this out-of-band verification - checking through a channel the other side doesn't control.
- No answer? Ask something only your child would know. Not a question answerable from social media. A wrong or evasive answer ends the conversation.
- Never pay to "help out" while unsure. A genuine emergency survives verification; a scam does not.
If you already sent money
Call your bank now and ask for the payment to be recalled - the first hours matter most. Report the case to the police (in the UK, through Action Fraud; elsewhere, your local police non-emergency line). Keep the whole message thread. And do not blame yourself: this scam is engineered by professionals to bypass careful people.
Make the check a one-tap habit
The defence above - "reach the real person on the number you saved" - works every time, but under pressure people skip it. Wcall turns it into a button: when a call or message claims to be someone you know, tap Check and Wcall contacts that person on the number saved in your contacts - a push notification to their Wcall app, or an SMS code. They confirm on their phone, or you hang up.
The rule fits on a fridge magnet: not sure who this is - run a check.
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Frequently asked questions
Is the "new number" message always a scam?
Not always - phones do break, which is exactly why the scam works. The only reliable way to tell is the check above: contact the old, saved number. Real children confirm; scams pressure.
Why doesn't a spam blocker stop this?
Blockers work from lists of known bad numbers. This message comes from a fresh number with no history - or from a hijacked genuine account. There is nothing to block. See our guide: a friend's WhatsApp asks you for money.
My parents don't read English well - can they still use Wcall?
Yes - Wcall ships in English, Polish and German, with one big Check button designed for older users.
