Locals along the Costa Tropical have been reporting a scam to the Guardia Civil known as the False Child Scam.

Consequently, officers specialising in cybercrime are conducting an investigation to get to the bottom of incidents where victims have lost between €4,000 and €10,000.

The modus operandi of these scammers is to send out mass SMS or on instant messaging apps such as Whatsapp. They pose as the daughter or son of an intended victim, saying that they have lost or had stolen their normal mobile, claiming to be in urgent need of funds.

Obviously, this does not work on the more canny but some parents fall for it, probably if they have an only child living in another part of the country or abroad.

The funds are transferred by Bizum, which is pretty common transfer system nowadays, for which you only need a phone number… and it is fast.

But it doesn’t end there because they may receive a second message from their supposed family member or a call from a supposed bank manager. They request a second money transfer with a different argument, but for similar amounts and with the same urgency.

If it hadn’t dawned on the victim before, it dawns on them then.

The Guardia Civil’s advice is simple; phone their son’s or daughter’s real phone number or that of a friend of theirs. Anyway, the Guardia Civil have a helpline for this kind of scame on 062.

(News: Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: Scam, Cybercrime, False Child, Guardia Civil, Bizum

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