Fraud via messenger app: How to unmask grandchildren’s trick and other scams

Messenger app scam
This is how you unmask grandchildren’s tricks and other scams

“Mom, you won’t believe what happened to me…” With these words, a WhatsApp message begins that circulated on the messenger service in early April. The alleged offspring states that they have a new phone number. As a result, there are demands for money because the online banking function has not yet been activated by the phone number. Anyone who receives such messages should urgently make sure in person whether the story is true and notify the police in the event of an attempt at fraud. These are messenger scammers’ scams.

In numerous cases, criminals pretend to be direct relatives, preferably children or grandchildren, in order to gain the trust of the recipient of the message. The news usually explains why the daughter or son has a new phone number, for example because the cell phone has suffered water damage. At first, the scammers simply ask that the new number be saved, before promptly contacting them again – this time asking for the money to be transferred and for the insurance company to pay it back soon. However, that is not happening, according to several police departments across Germany. Instead, the money is gone.

Fake sweepstakes are also popular with online scammers. Under the pretense of a lucrative price, they send chain letters on WhatsApp, Telegram and Co. In them, they ask smartphone users to download a file from the Playstore that entitles them to participate in the competition. Anyone who follows the link ends up on a fake Google service page and downloads illegal malware onto their phone without realizing it. As a rule, the operating system warns you, because the application requests permission to allow the installation of apps that do not come from the Playstore. Without knowing 100% whether it is trustworthy software, one should never give permission here.

Fraudsters do not stop at personal contact

If you do this anyway, you will be prompted in the next step to grant the app access to notifications. If you allow that too, the scammers can be happy: the cell phone then independently sends the link with the malware to other contacts. It is spreading rapidly, the potential dangers range from a locked cell phone that can be unlocked again for a ransom; about the surreptitious collection and theft of contact details; to stealing passwords and other sensitive information.

A method that has been circulating for many years as an e-mail scam is also popular among some scammers: it was the famous “Nigerian prince” who had to collect large sums of money over 20 years ago in order to unlock his supposedly bulging account , it’s now a United Nations military doctor who’s stuck in a war zone and in dire need of money. To do this, the gamblers even call their potential victims directly in order to gain trust in a face-to-face conversation. Even false distant relatives sometimes get in touch personally.

This is recommended by the police and criminal investigation departments

With all of these methods, it is important not to accept the demands lightly and to examine them critically, no matter how plausible they may appear. In order to protect themselves, the police and state criminal investigation offices recommend, for example in the case of the Messenger grandchild trick, to question the authenticity of the message. On the one hand, WhatsApp has integrated a function that automatically shows when users of the app change their phone number. On the other hand, parents and grandparents should not be afraid to call the alleged relatives on the previously known number in order to expose attempts at fraud.

The State Criminal Police Office of North Rhine-Westphalia also recommends not contacting unknown numbers. In telephone calls with unknown persons, passing on sensitive information is also always taboo. Anyone who has already fallen victim to fraud should file a criminal complaint and try to stop or reverse the flow of money at their bank.

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