One woman had $4,500 stolen from her by a con artist posing as her son and requesting money.
Jan Lenton, an Australian woman, got a message on WhatsApp from a person she believed to be her son, claiming that his phone had broken, that this was his new number, and that he was in need of some extra money.
She instantly transferred the thousands of dollars to the account information that was supplied to her because her son resides in the US.
She told 2GB’s Ben Fordham, “I’ve been in business for most of my life, and I’m the one that warns people “be careful, don’t do this, don’t do that,” and then I fell for it!”
I’m ashamed of what I did; I can’t believe I did it.
Ms. Lenton claimed that when she attempted to call the new number, which she thought belonged to her son, nothing happened.
She claimed that her son lost his mind when she told him she had moved money.
“I stayed up until almost one in the morning, called the bank, and they closed my account,” the person said.
The mother claimed that even though she didn’t provide the number her bank information, her account was still frozen.
I just assumed he was short on money so I just did it,’ Ms. Lenton continued.
“I know (my son) is purchasing a property in the US.
‘It’s common for a mother to give money when she thinks her child is in peril,’ said the speaker.
By chance, Ms. Lenton was shopping this week and was conversing with a store employee when they confessed they had also been duped.
Although the $4,500 has been reported to her bank’s cyber security staff, she claimed she has little prospect of ever getting it back.
Everyone needs to exercise extreme caution, she continued.