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

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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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday October 23 2016, @03:48PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 23 2016, @03:48PM (#417871) Journal

    You imagine that the orgy of backstabbing fuckery only travels in one direction, and not say facing 20 years on conspiracy charges so vague, you may have just committed a crime with your example.

    So now, we're to excuse crimes because the criminal activity here is not clearly defined in your own head?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @07:03AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 24 2016, @07:03AM (#418059)

    Rather than "excuse crimes", we should simply have absolute freedom of speech. The things you claim are harmful are not actually truly harmful at all.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 24 2016, @07:50AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 24 2016, @07:50AM (#418066) Journal

      The things you claim are harmful are not actually truly harmful at all.

      Like fraud? Extortion?