The phone rang. It wasn't a number she recognized, but distracted by the bleeding thumb, she answered it. Mom always answers the phone.
She heard screaming. It sounded like her 23-year-old daughter's voice, begging for help. Then an unfamiliar voice announced, "We have your daughter."
What followed next was five hours of hell. And it was all a scam...
Police call it a virtual kidnapping — an old scam that is having a renaissance across the country and particularly in the Washington region. The callers target affluent areas and find enough information online to make their ruse plausible.
Mueller, 59, had no idea that she was being played. She believed her daughter's life was at stake and did everything she was instructed to do.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 23 2016, @09:43AM
Get used to it or deal with the root of the problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 23 2016, @09:55AM
Care to elaborate? What do you see as the "root cause"? I am genuinely curious.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 23 2016, @06:31PM
What, kidnapping for ransom?
Happens daily in even more catholic countries too. [thrillist.com]
Root cause? Greed. And no religion has a monopoly on that.