Oh boy, does this mum have a story for you about the “Hi Mum” scammers I blogged about at the weekend.

She was sitting at home one day, minding her own business, when she got a message on WhatsApp from someone claiming to be her son. The message said, “Hi Mum, it’s me, your son. I need your help. I’ve been arrested and I need money to bail myself out of jail.”

Now, she was immediately suspicious because her son is a law-abiding citizen (at least, as far as she knew). But, being the loving mother that she is, she decided to play along. So, she responded, “Oh no! What happened? Are you okay?”

The scammer responded, “I’m okay, but I need you to send me $5,000 right away so I can get out of jail.”

She thought to herself, “Five grand? Are you kidding me?” But, she decided to have a little fun with the scammer. So, she responded, “Sure thing, son. But first, can you answer a few questions to make sure it’s really you?”

The scammer was game, so she asked, “What’s your favourite colour?”

The scammer responded, “Blue.”

Okay, that was a lucky guess, she thought. So, she asked another question. “What was the name of your first pet?”

The scammer responded, “Uh, Fluffy.”

Fluffy? Really? Her son never had a pet named Fluffy. She started to laugh out loud and realised that this was definitely a scam. So, she decided to string the scammer along some more. She sent back a picture of a cat and said, “Oh, you mean Fluffy? Here’s a picture of him!”

The scammer never responded again.

The last word: Don’t mess with a mother’s intuition, and always be sceptical of unexpected messages asking for money.