‘What’s your middle name?’: Man outsmarts scammer with simple question

WhatsApp scams have been surging in the past few years and scammers have been swift in stealing personal information and bank details in just a few seconds. Scammers have contacted people by impersonating family members or friends and their deceiving messages have cost people tens of thousands of rupees. Though the authorities and companies have been putting out advisories on a regular basis to alert users about cybercriminals, there has not been a decline in the number of cases against scammers.

Also read: Seth Andrew, former Barack Obama White House advisor, pleads guilty in $218,000 school scam

Michael Griffiths, with a little sharpness, has outsmarted the devious tactics employed by a scammer who pretended to be his stepdaughter. The man averted a scam of £900 (Rs. 91,000) by asking just one clever question.

Griffiths received some messages from a person who posed as his stepdaughter Sophie. The chat began with the scammer saying that she had lost her phone and was using an ‘old number’. It didn’t take long before the scammer started asking Griffiths for money. When he asked the person posing as his daughter if he should ask Sophie’s mother to call the ‘lost phone’ in order to locate it, the scammer said that the battery was dead and the phone would not ring as it was very old.

After a few exchanges, just a simple question from Griffith floored the scammer. Griffith had told the scammer that he could only transfer four hundred pounds but later asked the person, “What’s your middle name Soph?”

When the scammer asked why, Griffiths replied that he just wanted to confirm. The person posing as his stepdaughter stopped replying then.

Also read: India fourth most affected country by spam calls

Griffith’s stepson shared screenshots of the conversation online on his social media account. They wanted to raise awareness about WhatsApp scams. “When I was reading it with Mike, I thought it was my sister and then we found out it was a scam, I just thought that’s definitely going to get someone,” said Griffith’s stepson.