South Jersey police say scam claimed child kidnapping

LINDENWOLD, N.J. (WPVI) -- Investigators IN South Jersey say shameless scammers are preying on parents' worst fears to try to cash in.

The alleged victim is a 13-year-old girl who attends Lindenwold Middle School.

Right around dismissal time on Wednesday her mother got a call telling her the girl had been kidnapped.

Lindenwold Police Chief Thomas Brennan explains, "It certainly seemed plausible to everybody - us and the mother, all parties involved."

The ransom call came in after school when the girl should have been home. But she was nowhere to be found.

Brennan says, "Our detectives spoke to mother and she said the girl always comes straight home. She never deviates from her route, she comes right home from school."

Police say the woman was told she would have to come up with $1,000 if she ever wanted to see her daughter again.

But the scam fell apart 40 minutes later when the girl called her mom to tell her she had gone to a friend's house.

Police say the ransom call came from a number in Puerto Rico.

It's a scam that's gotten a big boost from social media, like Facebook. The scammers are able to learn personal information from social media and they use that to call parents or grandparents.

They often pretend to be a grandchild who's gotten into trouble, asking grandparents for money to get out of jail.

In this case the jig was up before any money exchanged hands.

A very upsetting experience for the mother involved.

"When all was said and done, when we brought the girl home, the mom was quite shaken up, understandably," Brennan said.

Police say you should call them right away if you get a similar call.

The scam usually peaks around this time of year when college kids are on spring break. Thanks to social media the scammers can find out where the student has travelled and how to contact his or her family.