VIRTUAL KIDNAPPING SCAM: Alexandria store owner receives call claiming daughter was kidnapped
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Imagine a stranger calling you, telling you they kidnapped your child and then demanded a ransom. It's a scam happening nationwide and a Virginia woman recorded part of the terrifying call she received.
"This phone call is going to keep your daughter alive," the caller said. "If you hang up, she dies. You understand that?"
The staff at Bellies and Babies, a consignment boutique in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, was working Tuesday afternoon when the call came in.
"When I answered the phone and said hello, the first that happened was a little girl crying, was muffled and said, 'Mommy, help me. They have kidnapped me. I'm blindfolded,'" said owner Dawn Luepke. "So the first thing that I thought of was -- 'Where is my daughter?'"
Luepke placed the call on speakerphone so the staff would know what was happening. She also motioned for her intern to call 911.
"They asked if she called her daughter and I am like how is she supposed to call her daughter when she is on the phone with this guy," said Angelic Britton, Luepke's intern. "Then they didn't say anything after that and that is when I went to her and she told me to hang up to start recording the guy on the phone."
"Let's just start walking to your car, grab your phone. Let's drive to the bank, okay? Get in your car," the scammer told Luepke on the call.
She kept her composure by pretending she didn't have a car. She used that as a way to stall while she muted the call and used the shop's landline to contact her daughter's school.
Once she confirmed her fourth grader was safe and sound in school, Luepke ended the call. But it left her wanting to know who was the child she heard over the phone.
"It was a real girl crying," said Luepke. "She was interacting with me. It wasn't a recording. And maybe she is part of whatever the scam is, but that little girl is a victim because she is being used in a scheme like this."
Luepke is concerned about that and also said she can easily see how people may fall victim to these scams.
"I was at a space where I could use another phone," she said. "I could use another phone to call the school, to call 911. Whereas if you were just walking on the street and you didn't have access to another phone, then you might just go right to a bank. It just felt like there was not a way to get help in this situation."
The 911 dispatcher tried to call back twice, but was not able to get through because the women were recording the call. Luepke contacted police afterward to report the scam.
The City of Alexandria said in this situation, police definitely want to hear from you. Officers can go check on your loved one and at the very least, they said you can ask to file a police report so there is a record of the call.
The scam call that Luepke received originated in Mexico. If you receive a call like this, you will also want to contact the FBI. The FBI is also offering some tips for these types of calls:
- Don't call out your loved one's name or give any personal information
- Ask for proof such as generic questions that only the alleged kidnap victim would know, such as a pet's name
- Try to buy time while you get help and confirm your loved one is okay
- Repeat the caller's request. Tell them you are writing down the demand or that you need time to get things moving