An Australian mother lost thousands of dollars after receiving a six-word text message from clever scammers posing as her estranged son.
Mr Heijin, from Brisbane, had not been in contact with his son Daniel Lee, 25, for several years when he received a text message from an unknown number in August.
“Mom, my phone isn’t working,” the six-word message read.
“She thought it was me so she went ahead and called and according to her it was someone who sounded like me,” Lee told Daily Mail Australia.
“I could have used AI, or I could have just not sounded like me – my mother was so desperate to hear from me that maybe she thought I was a deep-voiced man.”
The scammer asked Heijin for help with the bills, urging her to pay a total of $4,000 into two bank accounts until she agreed “out of desperation.”
The full extent of the scam was revealed when Heijin and his son reconnected over lunch last Friday after years of being estranged.
‘She said she was happy to help me with the money. I said, what are you talking about? “I’ve never asked you for money,” Mr. Lee recalled.
Brisbane woman Heijin (pictured with her son Daniel Lee) had been separated from her son for several years when she received a text message from an unknown number in August.
Daniel Lee (pictured) said he was left heartbroken after his mother lost $4,000 to scammers.
Realizing that he had sent $4,000 to a stranger, Heijin felt “sick to his stomach” and was unable to finish his meal during what was supposed to be a happy reunion.
Lee said it was “heartbreaking” that his mother thought he was sending him money to help advance his dance career.
He said emotions had been “volatile” when his mother was targeted by scammers because her family pet, Ginger, 24, had recently been put down.
‘This was a devastating blow not only to her financially, but also emotionally as it affected her sense of confidence. “Seeing his heart sink when I saw he realized he didn’t send me the money tore me up inside,” she wrote.
‘I want to make sure he gets everything he’s owed, because it’s just not right. I want to show her that I still love her.
Mr Lee and his mother are not the only Queensland family to have been scammed.
The Rose family lost $40,000 after scammers tricked them into handing over their house deposit just days after purchasing their dream home.
A clever scammer hacked into the email thread between them and the law firm tasked with settling the sale of the house.
Lee (pictured) said his mother thought she was sending him the money, which was sent to two separate bank accounts, to help him with his dancing career.