BBB Tip of the Week: Kidnapping scam targets parents

A scam targeting parents has caught the eye of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In this con scammers are going to great lengths to convince parents they’ve abducted their children. They are demanding parents pay up to thousands of dollars in ransom or they’ll never see their children again.

These con artists do their research, usually by finding their victims through social media. They figure out the names of children and additional personal information in order to convince them they’ve kidnapped their child.

Here are some tips for avoiding this rotten scheme:

• · Watch out for calls from unknown area codes. The FBI reports that these scams typically come from an outside area code, sometimes from Puerto Rico with area codes (787), (939) and (856).
• · The caller tries to keep you on the phone. By demanding that you stay on the line, you can’t contact the “victim” by another means.
• · The caller pressures you to act fast. Scammers want you to send money before you’ve had time to assess the situation.
• · The “victim” doesn’t quite sound like him or herself. If you find yourself in this situation, ask to speak to the victim and listen carefully. It could be someone else impersonating your family member.
• · “Kidnappers” want you to wire money or use pre-paid debit card. Scammers prefer these untraceable ways of sending money.

Remember to report threatening calls to the police, even if you don’t fall for the scam. This helps police find scammers and alert others by reporting these calls.

You can learn more about virtual kidnapping scams in this alert from the Federal Bureau of Investigation at www.fbi.gov.

To find out more about other scams, check out BBB Scam Stopper at bbb.org/scam. To report a scam, go to BBB Scam Tracker bbb.org/scamtracker.