360,000 SMS with “Hello Mama”: fraud against 17-year-olds

“Hello mom/dad, that’s my new mobile number.” The SMS, which has increasingly go into the cell phones of hundreds of thousands of Germans since 2023, begins.

Those who have no children sometimes react in amazement or suspicious. As a parent, such a message, which often contains a kind of call for help, can cause concern and fear.

This is exactly the goal of the sender that the children of the recipients are not, but criminals. If bite, other SMS will follow in which, for example, it is suggested that the daughter or son is in an emergency.

However, the senders always ask for money. “Tell me, can you send me 500 €?” Is then asked. Or: “Could you transfer something urgent for me?” As soon as the money is in the fraudster’s account, contact breaks off.

The Cologne police have now succeeded in a blow to the criminal senders of the “Hello Mama” SMS, as the public prosecutor and the Cologne police said. The “Fraud” investigation group was carried out on Wednesday morning with a search campaign against a group of SMS fraudsters. 13 searches for private apartments in Cologne and Bergisch Gladbach were enforced.

Twelve young men between the ages of 15 and 20 are said to have persuaded young people in front of schools or on social media with promises of “fast money” to provide their bank cards and secret numbers. In their accounts, money amounts were then transferred in the four -digit amount and thus “washed”, it said.

In parallel to the measures of the “Fraud” investigation group, another procedure was opened against a 17-year-old from Cologne. The police directorate and the main affiliation for cybercrime in Leipzig are now investigating the youngsters. It is said to have sent more than 360,000 of the fraudulent SMS. The goal: The parents wrote should transfer money to a specified account.

“We have not filed a request for an arrest warrant against the 17-year-old because the legal requirements for this did not provide for this,” Cologne’s chief prosecutor Ulrich Bremer told the star. This also applies to the others.

“The search measures carried out served to clarify the existing initial suspicion.” The urgent suspicion required for an arrest warrant has so far not been given, said Bremer. “In any case, the 17-year-old cannot be regarded as a ‘leader’ of a group in our procedure.”

In the course of the searches in and around Cologne, the officials ensured extensive evidence: about 25 mobile phones, several laptops, voucher and SIM cards, more than 250 grams of cocaine and around 10,000 euros in cash.

Since December 1, 2024, around 160 processes for money laundering and fraud have been initiated by the Cologne police. The financial damage is estimated at over a hundred thousand euros.