By BECKY RUTHERFORD
Los Alamos

Imagine it’s a regular day, you’re at work, and then your phone rings, it’s an unknown caller but you pick up anyways. You hear a voice yell “MOM!!” and then silence, then scuffling sounds, and another person comes on the line. “Ms. Rutherford, I’ve got your son, and you better get here, I’m going to kill him.” You panic, was that really your son’s voice? It happened so fast, it was hard to tell. You ask to speak to your son, but then the voice says “You already heard his voice, and if you don’t act now he’s going to be dead, understand? Unless you do exactly what we tell you to do, he’s dead.”

What a horrific thing to happen, what would you do? This is an unfortunately all too common scam, “virtual kidnapping”, and it has been happening to people right here in our community.

I’ve seen at least three posts from people who have received these calls on local Facebook groups. This is a horrible scam, done by bad people, read on to learn more about the scam, and how to defend yourself from it.

Remain calm!

What is virtual kidnapping? Virtual kidnapping is a type of scam where criminals call or message a victim, claiming they have kidnapped a loved one—usually a child or close family member.

The scammers often use high-pressure tactics, such as background screams or threats of violence, to make the situation seem urgent and real. The goal is to convince the victim to pay a ransom immediately, often through wire transfer, gift cards, or digital currency. In reality, no one has been kidnapped—it’s all a ruse designed to exploit fear and panic.

These scams can be very convincing. Scammers might use personal information gathered from social media or public records to make their story more believable. They may spoof phone numbers to make it seem like the call is coming from the victim’s loved one, and they usually demand secrecy to prevent the target from contacting the alleged victim.

Another scary trend- scammers may use AI to assist in these. With AI’s unique ability to quickly analyze data, scammers can target individuals based on their location, social media activity, and financial background, similar to how marketers target potential customers. This customized approach makes virtual kidnapping scams even more dangerous and harder to detect. Another thing to keep in mind- voice cloning technology is advancing rapidly and becoming more accessible to scammers, making it even scarier to encounter a scam like this.

To avoid falling victim to a virtual kidnapping scam, it’s important to stay calm and verify the situation. If you receive a call like this, hang up and contact the person supposedly kidnapped by calling them directly. You may be tempted to ask the caller specific questions only your loved one would know, but the best tactic here is to hang up right away, and avoid sharing personal information. Report the incident to law enforcement immediately, the non-emergency number for the Los Alamos Police Department is 505.662.8222.

How can you avoid this scam? Limiting the amount of personal information shared online and tightening privacy settings on social media can also reduce your vulnerability to such scams.

These people are desperate for money, they will scrape any publicly available info and use it to tailor the attack to you to make it more convincing.

If you receive a call from someone claiming to have kidnapped a loved one and demanding a ransom, here’s some tips.

• While you can try to get more information, in most cases, the safest option is to hang up right away.

• If you engage with the caller, avoid saying your loved one’s name, keep in mind they may know your loved ones name- this doesn’t mean they have them. It likely just means they did their research.

• Some organizations do say you can try to get more information from the caller, but personally I’d just hang up and reach out to your loved one and call the police. If you are uncomfortable hanging up, you could always try to call/text your loved one while you are still on the call. It’s awful, and terrifying, but it is a scam.

• Pay attention to the voice of the person claiming to be the victim, you may be asked for details by law enforcement.

• Try to contact the alleged victim using their phone or social media and ask them to call you back from their own phone. If the call appears to come from their number, it has likely been spoofed. It is trivial for scammers to make a call look like it is coming from a different number.

• Never agree to pay a ransom through a wire transfer or in person, as delivering money in person can be dangerous.

If you receive a virtual kidnapping call, contact your local police or the nearest FBI office immediately. The closest FBI office is: Albuquerque, 24/7 505.889.1300 or tips.fbi.gov.

These calls are straight up scams, they are terrifying, but they are 99.99% of the time going to be scams. It will be scary, but remember it’s not real, hang up, reach out to your loved one and contact the police. It will be alright, remain calm, and together we can beat these jerks!

For more info, check out this article from the NIH.