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June Morton received two messages from the con artist, who claimed his phone was broken and they had got a new number. She says she immediately picked up that the messages were from am imposter but decided to play along to wind them up.

She responded to the scammer’s bait, saying: “Hiya darling, remind me again who you are xx”

A chuckling June then decided to claim she had quadruplets, making a mockery of the “oldest child” claim.

The mum didn’t receive a response and, one hour later, she texted the classic “Helloooooo” before asking them if they were still there: “Are you there sweetheart?”

Some five hours later, with the scammer seemingly realising he’d been played, June sent a cheeky picture of quadruplets and asked which one of the toddlers had broken their phone. “Please, tell me which 1 of you are in trouble?????”

But the con artist then blocked June, reports Leeds Live.

The photo, June said, was actually taken from Google Images.

June, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, said: “My friends absolutely howled laughing especially at the Google pic of the 4 babies.”

The “Hi Mum its me” technique has been used frequently by WhatsApp scammers desperate to trick parents into believing their children are in trouble. They then entice the victim nto giving them money.

It’s been so prevalant that police forces across the UK, including North Yorkshire Constabulary, have issued warnings to ignore the messages.

Writing on Facebook, North Yorkshire Police said: “This is the scam message currently claiming multiple victims across our county in the last few weeks. 

“You receive a message on WhatsApp from an unknown number. The message appears to be from your son or daughter and explains they’ve broken or lost their phone. This message is followed up by another supposedly on behalf of the child, requesting payment for an urgent bill.

“Please be vigilant for this and let your friends, family and networks know and if it’s happened to you, call us on 101 to report it so we can help keep others safe.”

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