Hilarious reason dad couldn't be fooled by online scam
One savvy dad has outwitted a scammer who posed as his daughter, after the scammer made one hilarious error.
Ian Whitworth, a dad from Sydney, took to his LinkedIn page to share the message a scammer texted him in a classic phishing scam that targets parents.
He shared the photo of what he thought was the "funniest phishing text any parent has ever received".
The text read, "Hey dad, dropped my phone in the sink while doing the dishes. Its unresponsive this is my new number for now just text me here x."
Despite the terrible grammar and punctuation that would immediately alert anyone to the possibility of a scam, it was something else that caught the dad's attention.
Instead, Whitworth said it was the fact his daughter would never do the chore mentioned by the scammers.
Still, he thought it was worth sharing a photo of the text in a bid to warn others, which he uploaded along with the comment, "Cybersecurity update. I just got this."
"Perhaps the funniest phishing txt any parent has ever received. 'Doing the dishes', yeah, for sure."
In a reply to one of the people who commented on his post, Whitworth joked that his daughter "at age four emerged from my parents' kitchen with a shocked look on her face. 'What's pop doing?'. He was washing up in the sink."
Another commenter wrote, "Haha! There is NO WAY this is from my son or daughter, that's for sure."
Another commenter said the giveaway that it wasn't from his own child was that they didn't immediately ask for money, to which Whitworth replied, "Ha, yeah, the phishers are like the seven step ladder of confidence before the money issue gets raised. Actual kids: MONEY NOW."
According to the federal government's Scamwatch website run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the "Friends/Family Hi Mum" impersonation scam was common.
"Scammers send messages pretending to be a family member or a friend desperate for money," it said.
"They say they have a new phone and they need you to pay money to help them out of a crisis."
Scamwatch warns: "Don't assume a person you are dealing with is who they say they are" and offers the following advice.
"If someone you know sends a message to say they have a new phone number, try to call them on the existing number you have for them, or message them on the new number with a question only they would know the answer to," it said.
"That way you will know if they are who they say they are."
Image credits: Getty Images / LinkedIn