Business owner tricked out of HUNDREDS after receiving WhatsApp message he thought was from an old friend

A Rochdale businessman was left 'petrified' after forking out £800 to scammers - when he thought one of his oldest friends had messaged him on WhatsApp. When Mohammed Yousaf was asked for help, he assumed the plea was genuine.

The 56-year-old was messaged from an account belonging to a man who he had been friends with for 50 years. It began with the greeting 'Salaam', before the message: "Please I need a little assistance from you..."

Mohammed was concerned for his friend and asked how he could help. He was told his mate was trying to send £800 to an account, but it wouldn't work, and he was asked if he could make the payment instead - with his friend reimbursing him the next day.

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But the person behind the messages was not Mohammed's friend - and by the time he realised, it was too late. "They are very sophisticated," Mohammed told the Manchester Evening News.

"They go to that length to scam people and it worked on me. I'm a clever man but on this occasion, it shows that I'm not that clever."

The conversation came out of the blue after 9.20pm last Monday (January 15). Mohammed was acting out of genuine concern for his friend when he decided to send the money over to the account details provided, with no reason to suspect his old pal wouldn't return the cash at first.

"When someone asks for a favour you go out of your way to help them," Mohammed said. "I said 'no problem'. I thought there must have been a genuine reason why he would WhatsApp me at that time."

Within minutes, Mohammed had set up the £800 payment online, asked the person he believed was his friend to check the details, and sent over the money. It was only after that point that he began to