FBI Officials Alert Public After New Kidnapping Scam Comes To Light
CHATSWORTH (CBSLA) — FBI officials were recently made aware of a new scam that may be hitting the public's cellphones in the near future.
Con artists are using "spoofing" technology, which disguises their unknown number as that of a loved one or family member, to trick people across the nation, demanding money in exchange for varying conditions. In Rio Brown's case, it was the safety of her parents.
She was sitting in her apartment in Chatsworth when she received a phone call from what appeared to be her mother. When she answered, an unknown male voice rudely interrupted what was a peaceful evening, when he informed her that he had her parents at gunpoint - and he wouldn't let them go until she paid him.
"We're not f***ing around. We're going to kill your parents if you don't listen," the caller said to Brown at one point.
Brown detailed the phone call to CBS reporters detailing how he acted as the phone call ensued.
"He is getting super angry. He is hitting things; I am hearing a woman crying," she explained.
Brown continued to tell of the emotional trauma she went through in those few minutes,"He said I am stalling, and he says if I call the cops, he is going to kill my parents - and blow their brains out. I can't describe how that feels."
She was apprehensive in messaging either of her parents on Facebook or in text, since the person supposedly had their phones, and she didn't want them to see and put her parents in further jeopardy.
Brown ended up paying the fraudster over $1,500 in exchange for nothing.
She recounted her trauma in a tearful video she posted to social media, in hopes of keeping her loved ones up to date on the latest scam and making sure they don't fall victim like she did.
"I swear to God I heard her crying," Brown said in the video when referencing her mother.
Immediately after the phone call ended, she re-called her mother, only to learn that both of her parents were safe, and they were completely confused by her worry.
Gloria Brown, Rio's mother, explained their confusion when they received her frantic call. "We were both asking her 'What's the matter? What happened?' My heart just sunk," she said.
The FBI stated that extortion scams such as this are the third-most common type of scam in the United States, a number which they believe to be higher since most of the cases are likely unreported to authorities.
"If I would have known this was a scam - if I had just heart about it - I don't know if I would have responded differently. Because it was real, it was real," Brown continued.
Luckily for Brown, who made the payments through Venmo, all of her money was returned after CBS reporters reached out to the payment service.
