‘I just felt absolutely sick’: Victorian mother loses $11,000 to ‘Hi Mum’ scam

A mother has lost $11,000 in a horrendous and increasingly common scam. It all started with a two-word text message.

Victorian mother Nina Merrilees is one of countless Aussies to have fallen victim to the insidious “Hi Mum” scam.

She lost over $11,000 to cybercriminals who exploited her concern for her daughter’s apparent phone trouble.

Ms Merrilees, who regularly communicated with her daughter through WhatsApp, initially brushed off the message requesting financial assistance, considering it a routine occurrence.

It wasn’t until too late that Ms Merrilees realised she had been duped by scammers deploying the notorious “Hi Mum” tactic.

This technique involves criminals posing as family members, preying on the emotional vulnerability of parents to extract substantial sums of money.

Countless Australians, including Victorian mother Nina Merrilees (right), have fallen victim to the insidious ‘Hi Mum’ scam. Picture: 7 News

In this case, scammers used text messages to impersonate Ms Merrilees’ New Zealand-based daughter, taking advantage of the fact that her daughter had changed numbers several times while living overseas.

Recalling the incident, Ms Merrilees tolld 7 News her initial thoughts upon receiving the message, stating: “The message flashed up, “Hi mum, I’ve broken my phone.”

“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s not unusual.’ It seemed to be the sort of language we would use in our text messages,” she added.

“They used emojis, just talked about, “I’ve got these bills to pay” and (My daughter and I) done that before.”

Tragically, Ms Merrilees proceeded to send thousands of dollars in Osko payments to the scammer, only realising it was a ruse when her real daughter contacted her on her old number.

Ms Merrilees handed over thousands of dollars to scammers. Picture: 7 News

Do you have a story? Email [e-mail]

“I just felt absolutely sick when I finally realised it was a scam … The sinking, palpitations in the heart, I just went into a complete panic,” she said.

The “Hi Mum” scam has gained notoriety, with cybersecurity experts warning families to adopt preventive measures as scammers employ new tactics, including cloned voices, to exploit victims.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the scam witnessed a surge in popularity throughout 2022 and 2023, defrauding Australians of tens of millions of dollars.

The scale of the issue is evident in the statistics provided by Scamwatch, a division of the ACCC, which received over 9,700 reports of ‘Hi Mum’ scams in 2022 alone, resulting in losses of nearly $7.2 million.

The ‘Hi Mum’ scam has gained notoriety in Australia, with tens of millions of dollars lost to fraudsters through this tactic. Picture: 7 News

Victims, often contacted through platforms like WhatsApp, are approached by scammers posing as family members or friends.

The scammers claim to have lost or damaged their phone, using a new temporary number to request urgent financial assistance.

To combat this growing threat, cybersecurity experts advise individuals to independently verify messages from unknown numbers by reaching out to the purported sender.

Additionally, another effective countermeasure is to ask specific questions only the real family member would know and insist on receiving accurate answers, thereby thwarting potential fraudsters.