By COLlive reporter
A Jewish father from Crown Heights received a frightening phone call Wednesday from a blocked number, police warned.
When he answered the call he heard a female child’s voice crying on the other line pretending to be his own daughter, he said.
An unknown male then came onto the phone line and told the man that if he wanted his daughter back he would have to meet him in a public place and deliver a ransom amount of money.
The father quickly called 911 and the 71st precinct responded. The 71st Pct patrol units immediately went to the child’s school, where she was found safe and totally unharmed.
“The child was never abducted, the child was never in any danger, she was in her school the whole time,” a source from the NYPD told COLlive.com.
“While the girl is thankfully safe, this frightening experience reminds us all to never send money or pay any ransom over the phone,” the NYPD source told COLlive.
In the case of a phone call of this nature, the immediate response should be to call the loved one in concern and locate them, they said.
If you are unable to locate them immediately then 911 should be called.
“These phone scams are becoming more and more convincing,” police warn, and remind all to remain on the alert.
The also said to remember to never pay anyone over the phone with gift cards or credit cards or any other means.
Hopefully the new elected governor will take care of this.
Sweet dreams 😴 ✨️
Elections have consequences
I got a call from someone pretending to be my grandson. The (fake) caller id appeared to be from VA courthouse. He said he was in Virginia for a friend’s funeral, had a few lechaims and then got intio an accident driving a rented car and was now under arrest for DUI. Sounded very real. A few minutes later I got a call from someone who said he was the public defender assigned, and he could get him off with a plea to a misdemeanor charge and no record, but the judge would afree to it only if I immediately… Read more »
Im assuming that the person did not know he has a daughter and just tried his luck .
Or he did know and that would be a whole lot scarier
You have now a chance to arrest the person since there is a real case but instead just make sure the child is ok and done.
Take action also.
Action is being taken. FBI involved. This is a very watered down version of the story. It’s great to spread the word and warn people, yet, action is definitely necessary.
We got a call once that my brother in law was being held and would only be released if we paid a huge amount of money if not they would kill him
Call the cops
Call the person
Save the number so it can possibly be traced
My sister got a call that my other sister was abducted, and they would harm her if my sister did not pay an enormous sum of money.
Sad reality is that these can be very convincing because they have they get a lot of true and real facts about your family by checking out facebook.
Never post your private info on any public medium
Wondering why they didn’t advise you to play along to meet somewhere, where they could be caught…
Once realizing that the claim was thankfully bogus, the father should have taken a bunch of guys to the meeting place and beaten the crap out of the perpetrator. The police would likely not even arrest the criminal never mind letting him back on the street in a few hours if they did.
I know someone who was called that their grandson was arrested and needed bail. There was one catch. He had no grandson. These tricks of con artists happen all the time. Someone I know responded to an address on line advertising apartments in Jerusalem. She deposited money to some type of account. She got to Jerusalem there was no such apartment. Be careful.
It’s starting here I guess. In brazil this is very very common to happen, everyone in my family has gotten a kind of call like that . The best way to protect yourself is to get someone else to locate your child ,while you are on the phone just to make sure it’s nothing . Or you say a random name to catch them on the lie ,or ask to speak to the “child” and say something only you or your children would know Once you know its a lie ,you can just hung up or prank them back .… Read more »
This is so scary! Hashem protect us!
Don’t answer blocked call
This happened to my father 2 years ago and he paid 20k cash. True story.
I’ve seen this happen to the elderly who are more susceptible to fraud. Make sure you are looking out for your parents and grandparents not to get caught up in these types of scams.