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Awful people - well done Mum for checking
by /u/alfius-togra | 73 comments | 2026-06-16T08:40:08+00:00 Central
Comments
| /u/mildlyinfuriating-ModTeam This post has been removed as this is not mildly infuriating. Please consider posting to r/extremelyinfuriating instead. |
| /u/Any-Gold-9852 Shoutout to your mom for checking, mine would've already sent them her social security number and bank details before I could even reply. |
| /u/Uryalis https://giphy.com/gifs/kgU4L7FILhjduTgcou |
| /u/menonte My father told me I should check if I can get money somewhere else in response to a scam message requesting money. He managed to write to my number instead of the fake number, so I guess it's something? |
| /u/Dany_HH Hey, it's me, ur brother. Can you give me our mom's phone number, I lost it... |
| /u/A_Bit_Of_Nonsense My dad got fooled by one of these, but then the guy asked my dad how he was doing, my dad immediately knew he was not texting my brother. |
| /u/eulersidentification What a great mum though. Heart's in the right place. |
| /u/SourcedLewk Mine sent a message in the extendee family group chat advising everyone that my number had changed...without asking me first 😂 |
| /u/Jurtaani Se can mark this down as one of those dumb scams that make no sense. Why would you text someone asking them to message you on WhatsApp? |
| /u/imafinhehe My guess is because the sms costs money depending on your plan. My guess is they have the cheapest one with no free sms and send one message asking to use WhatsApp. |
| /u/HeWhoHasTooManyDogs Its because WhatsApps are easy to send from any country, and you don't even need a Sim card. That is not the same for SMS |
| /u/zenzofe You do need a simcard for whatsapp tho, you're required to have a number. |
| /u/HeWhoHasTooManyDogs You are not required to maintain it. Once you register and confirm it, you may dispose of the Sim and keep using the account, so long as you have functioning internet and the operator doesn't reissue the number to someone else who wants to register it to WhatsApp. |
| /u/zenzofe Ye you see, there is a difference between not requiring it and not requiring to keep maintaining it. You do need a sim card, you just dont need to keep it after you set it up. But this process still requires a sim card to use nonetheless. |
| /u/HeWhoHasTooManyDogs It's an absolutely meaningless and asinine distinction in a world where you don't have to identify yourself to recieve the initial sim card. Also I said you don't need a sim card to send messages, not that you do not need a Sim card. Which is factually true. |
| /u/Weapos in a world where you don't have to identify yourself to recieve the initial sim card. It's almost exclusively an American thing. Almost everywhere else, you need a government-issued ID to activate a SIM card, which links your phone number to your identity. It's done to combat scams and other crimes, so that people can't simply use anonymous numbers to commit them. https://preview.redd.it/q45rojegcm7h1.jpeg?width=1841&f ormat=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d1a30b3990d612a38c7ba852b5fa2abb 0da1574 |
| /u/HeWhoHasTooManyDogs I absolutely refuse to believe it's followed through in literally all of Africa and Asia. But even so, a single green country is enough for scams. |
| /u/Weapos It is followed, with the exception of a handful of countries. That's why SIM cards used in scams are often from specific countries where the registration system is corrupt and poorly enforced. Many of them come from certain countries in South Asia. That's also why WhatsApp shows which country a phone number is registered in, so that people can be wary of messages from numbers originating from, say, Cambodia, and not your home country. |
| /u/zenzofe If it was as meaningless and asinine as you describe it to be, then you wouldn't need a sim card to register the number. But you do. So the distinction matters enough. Either way, not going to entertain you further so have a good day. |
| /u/Anarchyr don't need a sim card, e-sims or spoofs also work. |
| /u/Mccobsta Voip numbers currently work for it which isn't great as scammers use it |
| /u/NotYourReddit18 You can use a landline, a cheap prepaid sim, or a disposable voip number to set up your WhatsApp account, you don't have to maintain access to that number. |
| /u/Ravness13 Is that...a thing still? I know some places like banks or what not still have the "Normal SMS charges will be applied" to things if they text you for whatever reason, but are there still actually plans that have to pay for texts? I assumed they did away with that ages ago. Most places I've seen either make you pay for call minutes or data, but I've not seen a text payment in probably 20 years. |
| /u/leona1990_000 Otoh, most UK plans have unlimited SMS. And the number looks like an UK one to me |
| /u/Jurtaani Well then you can message the person in WhatsApp |
| /u/DezXerneas Also, anyone replying is dumb enough to not check why tf that person wouldn't directly reach out on WhatsApp in the first place. And why the number is different now. |
| /u/NarrMaster If you don't ask yourself that, you are more likely to fall for the rest of the scam. Round one weeds out the folks that won't pay out. |
| /u/Vondi The Dumbness of the scam is very much the point. They send this to thousands of people to find the few people gullible enough to fall for it. |
| /u/commmingtonite This 1000% will work on my mum, triggers their panic and the reasoning stops working |
| /u/l-1-l-1-l Because the scam is the link-it doesn't lead to WhatsApp, it introduces malware to your device, I think. |
| /u/Reutermo Sometimes these scams are dumb by design, because then you only get gullible people/computer illiterate people/easy to scam people to reply to you. |
| /u/zerbey WhatsApp is very popular outside of the US, pretty much all of my English family uses it for communication. Called my Dad on it just this morning in fact. So, Boomer with low technical ability + WhatsApp + Asshole scammer = easy mark. |
| /u/Great-Appointment-49 I think it's very crucial to make the aged people aware of new scams. They have phones and internet and can be easily manipulated and scammed. |
| /u/lastofthe_timeladies I sent a bunch of common scam explanations to my grandma after it came up somewhere just so she'd be safe. She replied, "thanks for thinking of me but I already know these, we attended a seminar." Probably through her senior living home. Smart! |
| /u/Great-Appointment-49 My mom would just say "Now you'll teach me, eh?". |
| /u/wa019c I'm lucky to have a grandma who isn't very tech literate, but isn't easily manipulated either |
| /u/rising30k The good thing about being an orphan. 😀 |
| /u/mrzlozt I also cackle at scams "Dad, I got into an accident!" while having no kids whatsoever |
| /u/imafinhehe My grandma got a text like this but she thought that it didn't seem like something I would say. Thank god she asked me and blocked it. |
| /u/MrBlyat My brother recieved one of these recently, it began "Hi Dad..." (my brother is not a father). He thought it was from our Dad's new number and ended up adding it to the family WhatsApp group. We mocked him for falling for it, thankfully nothing bad happened and there was no information to steal from the group as it was fairly new. |
| /u/brickiex2 Families should have secret words or questions that can be verified with a phone call...questions that only your family will know. Like "what is the name of the neighbor that live 2 doors over who moved 20 years ago?"..... "what was the nickname of the vehicle we drove on the big roadtrip to Florida when you were kids?" I have similar ones with my financial advisor |
| /u/OzzieOxborrow My dad fell for this a couple of years ago. And normally he never answers on whatsapp but this time he just transferred 2000 euro without even giving a call to my brother. |
| /u/Jealous_Amount_9278 My grandad recently fell for one of these text scams. Lost his entire pension. So fricken sad. |
| /u/colourofsweetlove We had this scam and we fell for it, since my sister was the only one not at our gathering, when my mum got a text saying she'd been mugged, we just assumed it was her. But if my mum was going to send her money, she already has her bank details, and she would have realised it was a scam if she'd been given new details. I fell for it by texting the number asking how she was, and I told her I'd been to the doctors that day and shared some rather gory information, and the scammer thought I'd cottoned on and blocked me!!! I was so embarrassed!!! 🤣 |
| /u/whoopz1942 I was very surprised when I discovered I had become a mom the other day, since I'm actually a male. |
| /u/alfius-togra Congratulations, I guess! |
| /u/spinstartshere Great job on the censorship attempt. Save 07732 290787? Saving this number will add a new contact |
| /u/alfius-togra The part I blanked out was a link to a whatsapp chat which looked like it might have been unique to the intended victim and therefore identified my mother somehow. The number ending 787 is the scammers number, so fuck them. |
| /u/SunlessSage It's a scammer's phone number. What's the worst that could happen? Them getting harassed and forced to get a different number for their scams? |
| /u/spinstartshere I'm not the one who tried to censor the phone number in the first place... Go after OP if you want to have a whinge at someone. |
| /u/SunlessSage Oh no, I'm not trying to antagonise you or anyone else here. I'm just pointing out that the only one who's remotely at risk of being compromised here is the scammer. And who even cares? If it hinders their scamming, all the better. |
| /u/spinstartshere Not me. I was mocking the censorship attempt. |
| /u/alfius-togra I made no attempt to censor the scammer's info 😛 |
| /u/SunlessSage Then I think we're good, right? You mocked the poor censorship attempt, I mocked the scammer who just got their number leaked. All is well. |
| /u/GottaUseEmAll OP was censoring a link, and they did so perfectly well. I'm not sure what you're trying to mock. |
| /u/Adventurous-Map7959 What's the worst that could happen? It's a spoofed number and belongs to someone not even remotely aware that their number is used for illegal shit |
| /u/SunlessSage Even then, this will let them know their number is compromised so they can take action. If this happened to me, I'd rather wake up to some annoying calls or messages than that I remain blissfully ignorant about someone using my number to scam people. |
| /u/Melownz What's censored is a link, not a phone number, no? |
| /u/imafinhehe Love when people try and fail censoring something like that. |
| /u/kaddras019 My grandma would have all her information stolen within 10 minutes 😠walked downstairs one time to her on the phone with 'apple' who was telling her they needed her information for security purposes or her phone would be hacked |
| /u/slimmyboy007 I had this happen Luckily I live in the part of the country where we call her mom instead of mum so she knew something was off |
| /u/Guy-1nc0gn1t0 Sort of reminds me to have a chat with my mum about this sort of thing |
| /u/alfius-togra It's worth doing. Fortunately, my parents are pretty switched on about this sort of thing, but there are far too many vulnerable elder people out there who haven't developed the sort of mistrust-by-default approach that comes from years of internet usage. |
| /u/Excellent-Bite196 🎵 Good on ya mum... 🎵 |
| /u/Kiwitechgirl I got one the other day. I was amazed to learn that my 4yo had a cellphone I didn't know about, can type text messages, and that she apparently now lives in the Philippines (I had to look up the country code to find out where it was from). |
| /u/ledow About once a month my dad asks me if I'm the person who sent a text from a random number claiming to be me, losing my phone and needing money. Tell you what, dad? If that ever happens.... I'll let you know in other ways that you can be sure it's me. I hope that my cynicism, distrust and pessimism carries into my old age because it's the only protection we have against this shite as the telco's are absolutely disinterested in stopping it. |
| /u/enchantedcell Someone tried to scam my dad out of money the other day but luckily he just sent it to me! There seems to be a lot of them going around right now. |
| /u/MountainImportant211 Well my Mum has no idea how to use WhatsApp so she's safe |
| /u/Floralmeg_ This is what gets me about these scammers. They could just straight use texting OR already try them on WhatsApp. Why are they going through all this? It's weird, but scammers still think this tactic is great |
| /u/Bigred2989- Once had an old man come up to me at work with some Google Play Store gift cards and ask me if someone could buy gas with these. He'd gotten a text from his "daughter" saying she was stranded and needed gas money, but he only got suspicious when he say the scam warning signs all over the gift card rack. |
| /u/white-strawberry Once had someone do that to me (I have no kids), pretending to have lost their phone, and I messed with them a little bit just for fun. I then told my mom about it, and she asked me "but how will he find his phone again then?". I'm really scared it could happen to her, because she's so naive and gullible... |
| /u/zerbey My late Mum used to get these type of scam calls all the time, and her first question was always "So, where is my son right now?" and they'd give some bullshit answer that I was stuck in London or some other European city. Then she'd string them along for a few minutes before hanging up. Her son lives in the US. I wouldn't have shown up lost in London without calling her first. That's my brother's deal (true story). |
| /u/Informal-Term1138 I got such a message at 2 am in the morning once. When I was 24, a single student with no kid. I just reported the number to the dutch police immediately. |