Police warn of phone scammers pretending to be kidnappers

Published 1:30 am Thursday, March 9, 2017

LYNNWOOD — A 36-year-old mother received a call Wednesday morning from an odd number. It wasn’t from Washington.

A young teen was crying on the other end of the phone. She immediately thought of her 15-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. They were at school for the day.

“Help, Mom. He’s got me. I’m in a van and don’t know where I am,” the voice said.

At least four similar experiences have been reported throughout Snohomish County, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Shari Ireton said. It’s a scam.

The Lynnwood mother said the call, though frightening, was hinky. She had told the caller to slow down, as the voice was hysterical and hard to understand. She repeatedly asked for the teen’s name.

“Had it been one of my kids, they would have told me who it was,” she said.

The conversation continued for a minute and a half. Eventually a man’s voice blurted an unintelligible word and hung up. The mother contacted police and checked in with her kids. They were safe in their classrooms. Though she knew the call was fake, she couldn’t stop shaking for several hours.

“It does sound real,” she said.

In other accounts of this scam, the phone numbers listed 525, 528 and other area codes from Mexico. A male voice told the victims that their child or relative had been kidnapped. A ransom was demanded.

A 65-year-old father from Everett was told to pay $30,000 Sunday. If he didn’t, the caller said his 23-year-old daughter would be “left on the side of a road with a bullet hole in her,” police said.

On the other end of the line, a woman was crying. He feared it was his daughter, so he called 911. His phone rang again shortly after. The suspect had lowered the ransom down to $500.

Officers were able to trace the daughter’s cellphone to Marysville. She was not in harm’s way and hadn’t heard of the kidnapping claim, according to a press release.

“This is a particularly frightening scam for victims,” Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary said. “We are extremely concerned that this scam, which has been reported in other parts of the country, has now hit Snohomish County.”

The FBI in San Antonio published a notice regarding an abundance of kidnapping scam calls in other parts of the country. In June, similar extortion attempts targeted people in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. More than 20 calls were recorded that month.

Whoever is crying or screaming in the background of the calls is a co-conspirator trying to convince victims to pay the ransom, according to the notice.

There are some clues to help determine if such a call is a scam. The calls are not being made from the kidnapped person’s phone. Instead, they are often made from outside the area. Scammers also try to keep victims on the phone for as long as possible.

Police recommend that if a person receives one of these calls, take note of the phone number and hang up. If family members can’t be reached, call 911. Officers can help verify their whereabouts and if they’re safe.

Caitlin Tompkins: 425-339-3192; ctompkins @heraldnet.com.