Schertz police warn residents about kidnapping scams
Around noon on Wednesday, January 4, Schertz police received a call from a local Security Services Federal Credit Union that a customer came into the bank and handed the teller a note, which said her daughter was kidnapped by cartel members, according to a news release. When the police were investigating the situation at the bank, a second person went to the police claiming the same type of virtual kidnapping was happening to her.
“Unfortunately, in today’s world we have people who prey upon the innocent,” police said in the release. “Please be aware of this type of extortion and be careful to not let your emotions have you do something that may cause undue financial anguish without objectively looking at the situation.”
The scammer tells an unsuspecting person that the cartel has kidnapped their family member. They then tell the person to keep them on the phone while they try to get the money. By keeping the victim on the line, they can’t check on their family member or call the police without the scammer knowing, according to the release. To make the call even more believable the scammers are having a woman screaming in the background while they are on the call, according to the release.
The woman in the bank was able to get ahold of her daughter. A second person who also was targeted by scammers, gave her daughter’s name and school, which helped confirm she was okay at the school, said Schertz Police Department Public Information Officer Anna M. Kraft.
Kraft said to MySA in an email that these were the first calls the department has received about these types of scams. The usual ones the department sees this time of year are IRS and Social Security calls, she noted people can filter these calls by letting unknown numbers go straight to voicemail. She added that if a scammer calls you and says not to hang up that people can still text without hanging up to check in on a person that is “kidnapped.”
“The best thing for someone to do is to hang up. I heard our Chief tell someone to create an emergency plan with their families. The example that was used was if you send a text with a certain word or phrase, that means to call them immediately,” Kraft said.
