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‘We Have Your Daughter’: a Virtual Kidnapping and a Mother’s Five Hours of Hell

posted by janrinok on Sunday October 23 2016, @09:07AM   
from the what-would-you-do? dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

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.

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Original Submission

• Re:Is it illegal? Re:Is it illegal? (Score: 5, Funny) by chewbacon on Sunday October 23 2016, @03:23PM

  by chewbacon (1032) on Sunday October 23 2016, @03:23PM (#417864)

  Wire fraud. If you're calling someone and telling them you've kidnapped their daughter, then you'd better have her hog tied on your end! Really, how could you explain that if you got caught? Probably easier to explain kidnapping.

  Parent

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• Re:Is it illegal? (Score: 3, Funny) by isostatic on Sunday October 23 2016, @07:18PM

  by isostatic (365) on Sunday October 23 2016, @07:18PM (#417930) Journal

  Wrong number -- you have someone else's daughter, honest mistake.

  Parent