Summary

Placing scam phone calls or sending text messages to family members that claim a loved one has been ‘kidnapped’ has become a booming business in Mexico where kidnappings have rattled the country for years. One estimate indicates that over $20 million USD has been taken in the last 6 months.

Using stolen cell phones, criminals run their scam by calling a parent, husband, or wife. When the victim answers the phone they hear an accomplice franticly screaming begging for help. Distraught parents assume they are hearing the voice of their ‘kidnapped’ loved one. Then the extortionist comes on the line, makes horrific threats and demands money. In the savvier cases, the extortionist had previously called the supposed kidnap victim to say there was a problem with their phone line and they need to turn their phone off for an hour – which means frantic calls to their number by panicked parents go unanswered convincing the parent that the kidnapping is real.

Things to think about when reading this article

This particular flavor of phone/text scam is less probable in countries where kidnappings are rare events, but similar emergency scam tactics are widely used and it is worthwhile to identify the very clear pattern that emerges so you don’t fall victim to one variety or other. Note: a good scammer will modify their story on the fly as they get a sense of the relationship between the person they are purportedly helping and the person they called. But the steps are always the same.

Here’s how these scams break down:

1. The set up: The scammer obtains information about multiple family members – this is often done in wholesale trawling of data publicly posted on websites and is yet another reason for acting cautiously when posting personal information. Another common method is for the scammer to simply call people found in the address book of a stolen phone.

2. The story: The scammer (usually using a stolen phone or one that is unregistered) calls or text messages the family member/friend and announces a ‘problem’. Usually this is considerably less dramatic than a kidnapping, but the tale is still frightening enough. The story often involves some form of an accident as the plausible reason that the child/brother/grandparent/etc. can’t call, and has asked this Good Samaritan for assistance.

3. The money ask: There is always a request for something of value. It could be emergency funds that need transferring to another account, or sent via Western Union, etc. Or a request for a credit card number to ‘guarantee coverage for a medical bill’. Or a social security number is needed for an insurance form, or any other item of piece of information of value.

4. The urgency:SPAN STYLE="font-weight: medium"> Creating a sense of urgency is key to pulling off the scam because they need the victim to react before thinking. The story line at this point goes something like ‘the money needs to be sent in the next 15 minutes - half hour in order to get here on time’.

With a little more time the victim would likely check the facts, or verify the information in some way. The urgency also covers the question of ‘why did they call me?’ with ‘I couldn’t get a hold of anyone else and it has to happen before… the bank closes, the surgery starts, the bill is due, the car gets towed….’

How to avoid these scams

1. Stay calm: Rushing to respond is a natural instinct, and that’s what the scammers are counting on. Mentally evaluate any emergency call against the scam steps listed above. If it follows the general pattern, put your guard up no matter how frightening the story that gets told to you. Simply slowing the pace and asking a few probing questions will likely result detecting the scam or the scammer hanging up to find an easier target.

2. Don’t volunteer information: Most people realize (after the fact) that they facilitated the scammer by filling in the blanks. For example the scammer calls and says ‘your daughter has been in an accident’ and the parent says which one? Jill or Darlene? The scammer then picks one of the names while the parent continues their questions... ‘Did it happen on her way to…work/school/party..? I always warned her about the traffic on xyz street’…

Curiously, by facilitating the scam victims are more likely to believe the story – both because they provided the details to make the story believable and articulated their worst fears, and they became involved and invested in the creation of the story.

1. Request information: The caller should be able to tell you things about the ‘victim’ or their car, or the location that in some way provides evidence that they have some verifiable knowledge. This test isn’t foolproof by any means, especially with the amount of personal and detailed information posted by many users online, but it gives a starting point.

2. Get a second opinion: If an accident has occurred, calling the hospital or police is straightforward and only takes moments to verify – find the correct phone number to call yourself so that you don’t get validation from the same scammer or his buddy.

Stay safe,

Linda