Overview

• The 'Hi Mum' scam involves fraudsters posing as relatives or friends via WhatsApp or SMS, claiming urgent financial need to trick victims into transferring money.
• Recent developments show scammers using AI voice impersonation to create convincing voice notes, making the scam more realistic and harder to detect.
• Action Fraud reports that UK victims lost a total of £226,744 to these scams between 2023 and 2025, with impersonations of sons being the most successful.
• Consumer advice groups recommend setting up family passwords, verifying requests through separate channels, and reporting suspicious messages to authorities.
• Victims who have already transferred money are advised to contact their bank immediately to attempt to stop the unauthorized payment.