Sainsbury’s and Morrisons customers warned over WhatsApp scam promising £150 voucher

CON artists are trying to trick Morrisons and Sainsbury's into parting with their personal details by offering them £150 vouchers on WhatsApp.

Consumer watchdog Which? said the messages come with a link to an online survey asking for their email, home address and phone number in exchange for the free gift.

One text simply read: "I just received a free £150 gift voucher from Morrisons. Get yours before the offer ends. Thank me later."

Once they have completed the survey, customers are asked to select other WhatsApp pals to share the link with.

These two new supermarket cons follow a similar Costa Coffee WhatsApp scam highlighted by Which? last month.

The group said: "These message usually come from a close friend or relative, tricking the recipient into thinking they’re a safe endorsement and fine to share with their own contacts.

"We informed Morrisons and Sainsbury’s about the fraudulent WhatsApp messages. Morrsions confirmed it is a scam, and Sainsbury’s thanked us for notifying them of the hoax."

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: "Customers should always be mindful of phishing scams. This message is not from Sainsbury's and we are advising customers to delete it."

A third of Brits have received a scam message in the past six months leaving their bank accounts vulnerable to fraudsters, according to new research by Which?.

Scammers target victims directly through their phones by sending messages on Whatsapp, Facebook and via text.

Alarmingly, 7 per cent of those surveys had lost personal data, money or both, according to the figures from Which?.

Typically, the messages aim to trick potential victims into clicking on links or calling a number to trick them into handing over their financial information.

Recently, fraudsters have become more sophisticated and are able to use "number spoofing" technology to disguise their number as an organisation, instead of the fraudulent number.

Sometimes, these messages are even displayed on an existing thread from the actual organisation.

After texts, Facebook Messenger was the most common method for messaging scams, with a sixth (16 per cent) of users having received a fraudulent message in the last six months.

This was followed by one in 10 Whatsapp users getting a scam message in the last six months.

The most common scam message claimed to be from HMRC - with more than four in 10 people who received a fraudulent message in the last six months receiving one.

A third of the messages claimed that the person it had been sent to had won a competition and a third of them were for an injury claim.

Just under a third of the messages were claiming to be from Paypal.

Which? is calling for more to be done by telecoms companies to try and stop fraudsters sending these types of messages.

They also want customers to be given stronger ways to verify any genuine business that is contacting them.

Adam French, Consumer Rights Editor said: "Firms must take action to introduce the systems needed to stop these messages reaching people’s devices.

"While we await action on this, it’s important that people remain as vigilant as possible. Stop and think about a message you receive before engaging in communication.

"The problem is still rife - any unexpected messages could well be a scam."