Overview

• Fraudsters initiate contact with messages like 'hi mum' or 'hi dad,' pretending to be children in need of financial help.
• The scam often involves claims of a lost or broken phone and urgent requests for money transfers to unrecognized accounts.
• Action Fraud has reported total losses of £226,744 in the UK from 2023 to 2025 due to these smishing scams.
• Recent developments show scammers leveraging AI voice impersonation technology to make their requests more convincing.
• Experts urge recipients to verify such requests through independent calls, use prearranged code words, and report suspicious activity immediately to their bank.