Bank employee realizes something’s wrong and foils high-tech Tri-Cities kidnap scam

A Pasco mother got a frightening call from an unknown number last week — someone had kidnapped her daughter.

She didn’t realize that call, which came from a local number, was part of a well-coordinated virtual scam, Pasco police said . They even let her “speak” briefly to her daughter.

It’s not clear how the kidnappers mimicked her daughter’s voice, but law enforcement has been warning about scam artists using artificial intelligence in a new version of the virtual kidnapping scams.

To add to the woman’s fears, the scammers warned if the woman called her daughter, they would know and harm her. Police have not said how old the daughter is.

Convinced they had the girl, she sent the kidnappers all of the money she had — $600. But the callers weren’t satisfied. They want more money.

They convinced her to send $5,000, and sent her to Gesa Credit Union to take out a loan.

But a Gesa employee realized something was wrong and learned that someone was on the phone claiming to have the woman’s daughter. So, Gesa employees alerted police.

“When an officer gets the call, he knows this has scam written all over it,” Pasco police said in a social media post. “But to the victim — it’s real.”

As the mother stayed on the phone with the kidnappers, the Pasco officer worked with employees to get the woman’s address. Police arrived to find her daughter safe and sound.

“The officer then drives the victim’s daughter to the bank so the two could embrace,” police said. “It’s the first moment in a terrible hour the victim realized her daughter was safe.”

Police shared a photo of the woman hugging her daughter.

Virtual kidnapping

Police said the mom is still out $600 because of the scam, but it could have been worse if not for the intervention of the Gesa employee.

Scam artists are usually not caught in connection with phone scams. Pasco police urged people to be careful.

“This elaborate scam is happening a lot and local families are losing thousands of dollars to these crooks,” Pasco police said.

The FBI shared some ways to spot a virtual kidnapping scam :

▪ The calls don’t come from the kidnapped person’s phone.

▪ The callers go to great lengths to keep their target on the phone.

▪ The scam artist are usually not able to answer simple questions about the person they claim to have kidnapped, such as what they look like.

▪ The ransom money is only accepted through a wire service.