Note from Audra: I received this note today from a friend who lives in Dunwoody.
I received a very upsetting call the other day that was a nasty Phone Scam . We are all wary of these calls but this one hit home and was particularly unsettling . I want other parents and their children to be warned about this Scum that tries to extort money out of terrifying their victims.
– On Monday l was in the Produce area of Walmart . My Cell Phone registered 2 calls from Indiana , which l just ignored . I then got what l thought was a call from my oldest Daughter -My caller ID on my cell said it was my daughter. I answered my phone and there was a male on the other end that spoke to me in a threatening voice – he said he had my Daughter , she was tied up and he wanted Money . He said he wanted cash and if l didn’t comply he would kill my daughter. I was shaken and put him on speaker, pretending l did not understand him and asked him to keep repeating . At the same time l moved over to stand by another customer who listened with me and l made him repeat again that he was holding my daughter tied up and would kill her if l did not send him cash . I asked the Scammer what my daughter looked like and he ignored my question . At this point l hung up and immediately called my daughter . She was safe . However she said just before l received the calls , she also received a call that asked for me .
I got home and we matched up the call numbers as the same number that was from Indiana. Somehow this Scammer used our cell numbers to access my favorite numbers and recognize the name of my daughter – then called and threatened me .
We contacted our Phone company and let them know and they have blocked that cell number. However chances are this Cell number was not the Scammer’s – probably hijacked or stolen .
We have now designated a Code Word for our family members –
I want everyone to be aware of this SCAM- Decide on a code word with your kids . Even though you know it is likely a scam – there is always that part of you these Scumbags know , will be vulnerable to threats like this . I knew this call was a scam , however the call registered on my cell as being made from my daughter’s cell phone . It was upsetting and intrusive-
Please pass this on in your Aha! Connection so parents can share this .
This is terrifying, I am so sorry that your friend had to go through that. Thank you for sharing this horrible scam with us and keeping us aware.
I am so sorry that you had to go through this frightening experience. Thanks for sharing this information. I am just curious, was this done on iPhones or another type of phone? I would like to do some research to see how we can prevent these criminals for doing this to anyone else!
Cyber Savvy- my family uses iPhones .