Scammers are preying on the “emotional exploitation” of parents who think their child is in danger, according to Jess Kelly.

Newstalk's tech correspondent said individuals are receiving a text from somebody pretending to be one of their children.

The message usually suggests the child has broken their own phone and is contacting their parent from a different number.

Jess said that recipients are then asked to send money to a bank account in order for their child to purchase a new phone.

“In the era of Revolut and so on, it's not as black and white,” she said.

“It's preying on that emotional exploitation of my child is in trouble: they need money, I need to solve it.

“It's a very sophisticated scam.”

‘Conversation’

Jess said scammers have developed ways to convince parents they are speaking to their own children.

“The message will say: Hey, it’s me,” she said.

“The parent will text back asking ‘which me is it?’ and then in some instances, it [replies] ‘your oldest and cutest child.’”

“The texts are coming from Irish mobile numbers, but they're not pretending to call from your mobile number. It's a new number entirely pretending to be from a friend.

“The serious side to this is these scams are getting more sophisticated.

“They're speaking and they're written in good English.”

‘Advice’

Jess advised recipients to not engage with these messages.

“You do need to have your eyes wide open,” she said.

“If you're not sure whether or not it’s legitimate, call your child on their actual phone number.

“They'll be able to answer that call because their phone isn't out of service.”

Jess said if the child is not answering their own number straight away, parents should wait to find a time that is convenient.

“Millennials can't take unannounced calls,” she joked.

‘Database of numbers’

Jess said it is not entirely clear where scammers source phone numbers from, but there is a huge database on the dark web filled with personal details.

“What's sinister is that they do tend to profile the people that they scam,” she said.

“Very often it's women in their 50s and older people who get targeted by these messages.

“There's no way of verifying 100% that those people have children.

“But if there was a database that was compromised that had my telephone number, my gender and my age, that's a pretty good guesstimate then to send a text message like this.”

Jess recommends reporting or flagging if something like this does land on your device.

“They're playing on that emotional manipulation and they're looking for your money.”