‘Hi mum!’ The simple WhatsApp text scam costing parents and friends dear

How to beat the scam, from setting up new passwords and telling your bank exactly what you are doing

Hi mum," the first message starts, I've lost my phone." It carries on with a tale of woe: for some reason the sender has also been locked out of his or her bank account.

Luckily a friend is often on hand to help - it's their phone that the message comes from, apparently - and if you could just transfer some money to their account that would be great. Alternatively, you might be asked to pay the rent, direct to a landlord, or foot some other urgent bill that has arrived at this time of crisis.