SCAM ALERT: King County Sheriff’s Office sends warning of terrifying ‘kidnap’ scam

Just in from the King County Sheriff’s Office. No known incidents in West Seattle, though as explained below, one wasn’t far:

In a span of 4 days a new *SCAM* has surfaced. Male suspect or younger-sounding female claims they have kidnapped the caller’s kids and won’t return them without money.

On 03/08/2018 in the Ravensdale area, a Mom had dropped her two kids off at the school bus in the morning. A short time after the bus left, the mom got a call from a blocked number. The male caller, described as having an accent, stated that he had her daughter and used her real name, although he had her last name slightly wrong. He told the mom that if she didn’t meet him with money in exchange for her daughter’s release he would “kill the child.” In a panic, the mom called the school and confirmed both her daughters were in school and safe.

Four days later, on 03/12/2018 in unincorporated King County near White Center, a father received a phone call from a blocked number. A younger sounding female came on the line pretending to be the daughter of that father. The female stated she was kidnapped and the suspect needed money to release her. The male suspect, again described as having an accent, then got on the phone and demanded money from the father or he “would hurt her.” The suspect then hung up on the father and the number was blocked so he had no way to call back. The father called his daughter’s school and, once again, was assured the child was safe at school with no issues.

Please keep in mind these type of phone calls are *SCAMS* – never provide money to anyone over the phone.

The parents did the right thing in these instances, confirmed with the school their kids were ok and called 911 to report it.

9 Replies to "SCAM ALERT: King County Sheriff's Office sends warning of terrifying 'kidnap' scam"

  • Chris March 13, 2018 (5:08 pm)

    Also the scam regarding “there is an arrest warrant out for you, you need to pay $” is still going around.   We received one yesterday, as did one of our friends.   We did not respond.

  • Admiral Mom March 13, 2018 (8:16 pm)

    That is disgusting. These people are such losers! Who would scare a parent like that? 

  • psps March 13, 2018 (9:33 pm)

    Actually, the switch that services the call receiver’s phone has a record of the calling number even on “blocked” calls, so there is a record of where the call came from that can be and is made available to police with either a warrant or court order which, in cases like this, would be routine.

  • UniversityDistrict March 13, 2018 (9:56 pm)

    “The male suspect, again described as having an accent, then got on the phone and demanded money”

    • WSB March 13, 2018 (10:22 pm)

      The news release is published here exactly as sent by KCSO.

  • waikikigirl March 14, 2018 (5:18 am)

    The Blog reports stories as they “get them” they don’t make things up for giggles.

    As for the meaning of an accent it can go for any sort of language I don’t think the KCSO was pointing a finger at one certain race.

  • scubafrog March 14, 2018 (7:49 am)

    God I can’t even begin to imagine the terror that dad felt.  This sounds more like terrorism.

  • 56bricks March 14, 2018 (9:17 am)

    5 minutes alone is all I ask. You can fill in the details.

  • Matt March 14, 2018 (9:58 am)

    I recently got a scam call where a person calls and says my credit card has been used fraudulently and I need to login to a website to stop it, etc. Most scam calls are easy to figure out but this person was really good and had a better scam story than many others. My advice is to never answer a call from someone you don’t know. If you don’t answer these people just move on to the next target. 

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