Houston family targeted in $3,000 kidnapping phone scam
Family targeted in kidnapping scam
A Houston mom came close to sending thousands of dollars to scammers, whom she thought had kidnapped and been harming her daughter.
HOUSTON - Kidnapping scams over the phone have been around for years but a Houston family wants to remind all how easy it is to fall prey.
“You never really think these things are going to happen to you. You hear about scams all the time … my mom has never fallen for anything like this," says Charlotte Tovar.
Last week Charlotte’s mom Diana received a terrifying call: her daughter was kidnapped and she needed to pay thousands to get her back. Unbeknownst to Diana, she had just fallen victim to a phone scam.
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“The call starts with a woman crying and screaming saying mom I need your help,”
Charlotte said. Her mother felt a little embarrassed to speak.
“She was scared, she couldn’t confirm it was me. She hadn’t heard from me in a couple of hours. She genuinely thought that the voice at the beginning of the call was me," says Charlotte.
“I think what added to the confusion of this particular phone call was the female voice. This sort of imminent threat at the start of the call."
Charlotte says she doesn’t fault her mother for falling for this and coming close to sending 3,000 dollars to the scammers.
She says the scammers know exactly what to do to make the transaction from falling through. They asked Diana for her location and guided her to the nearest bank and then to the nearest Western Union to complete the transactions.
And all the while, the scammers threatened to harm her daughter if Diana didn't stay on the line with them, preventing her from calling Charlotte to confirm the voice was hers that she had heard.
Charlotte has been in contact with law enforcement, they tell her it’s hard to trace these calls.
The advice she is giving to others: make sure you screen your call.