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KIDNAP phone scammers seem to have resurfaced actively.
Stompers posted two cautionary messages yesterday, vividly describing their parents' experience with ransom scams on Tuesday.
Police said in a media statement in February that 21 reports of kidnap phone scams were made in the last three days of that month.
Administration and human resource officer - she wanted to be known only as Cecilia, 32 - told Stomp that her housewife mother, May, 51, received a call on their home phone from a man who demanded $100,000 in exchange for her youngest daughter's life.
| The modus operandi |
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IN THESE two cases, the scammers called the victims, in their 50s and 60s, on their home telephones, on a weekday morning or afternoon when there were few people at home.
One scammer posed convincingly as the victims' frightened children crying.
Another scammer played the role of the kidnapper who shouted fiercely at the victims and demanded a large ransom in a short space of time, in exchange for their children's lives.
At no point did the conmen reveal the names of the victims' children, leaving the victims to blurt them out inadvertently.
The scammers later asked the victims to meet them at a certain location to hand over the ransom.
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In response to Cecilia's post, a medical professional who wanted to be identified only as Ms Lee, 39, said that her retired parents, in their 60s, had a similar experience the same afternoon, where conmen wanted $50,000.
The modus operandi of the suspects were similar in both cases (see above). Fortunately, despite "sobs" from the victims' "daughters" and threats from the conmen, the scams did not succeed.
"I wasn't nervous as I suspected it was a scam but I needed to ensure my daughter was safe," May told my paper.
Even though the conmen kept her engaged on both her residential and mobile phones, she managed to step out of her home to seek help from a kind passer-by with a written note.
As for Ms Lee, her father, 69, realised it was a con after his wife checked that all their daughters were safe. Ms Lee thought the perpetrators randomly called numbers from the same estate using a telephone directory, especially after they called again the next morning using the same scam, not realising they called before.
The police were contacted in both cases and advised the parents of Cecilia and Ms Lee to cease communication with the conmen since their daughters were indeed not kidnapped.
They told both parties that they would investigate their cases.
The police have previously advised people who get ransomscam calls to stay calm and confirm the identity of the supposedly kidnapped victim.
kennyc@sph.com.sg
For more my paper stories click here.
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