Your Relative Probably Has Not Been Kidnapped: ECSO Warns Of New Scam

May 4, 2021

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is warning of a new scam.

The ECSO said a scammer recently called the potential victim and claimed to have kidnapped a family member or to be holding a person they knew against their will. The scammer said they would only let the person go if money was transferred to the kidnapper. The potential victims immediately contacted the ECSO and the person being said to have been taken against their will was fine and knew nothing about the phone call or scam.

The sheriff’s office is anyone receiving such a call to contact them at (850) 436-9620, and do not send any money or provide personal or financial information.

Multiple variations of the scam have been reported, investigators said.

Comments

3 Responses to “Your Relative Probably Has Not Been Kidnapped: ECSO Warns Of New Scam”

  1. Someone on May 13th, 2021 10:04 pm

    This happened to my mother. Person had a woman crying in the background. They gave my mom my cell phone number, not my name. She was too panicked in the moment to notice because of the woman crying so hard they weren’t audible. My mom was in her car with her gun ready to go to wherever the guy said when another family member got ahold of me and confirmed I was fine. The guy told my moms if she called my phone he’d kill me. Some wild stuff!

  2. Unbelievable But TRUE on May 4th, 2021 6:49 pm

    This totally happened to a friend of mine. He was so convinced it was true he wired 2 separate sums of $3,500. He was out of town at the time and he bit hook line and sinker…cork, pole and all.

  3. BT on May 4th, 2021 10:34 am

    Probably

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News