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A Carmichael mother received a frightening call from people claiming her daughter had been kidnapped and demanding $4,000. But it was all a scam.
"At one point they even threatened, you know, 'We're going to cut her finger,'" Angelica Dennis explained, "And then the little girl got on and said, 'Mommy, they're threatening to do bad things to me.'"
Dennis said she was at work when she got the call and was on her Bluetooth, so didn't check the phone number. At first, she thought it could have been real because the girl on the other end of the phone sounded just like her daughter.
"It was just the most frightening feeling and all you wanted to do was do whatever they said to make sure your child is safe," she said.
Dennis said when the men on the other line began demanding $4,000 is when she realized it was likely fake. Even so, the experience caught her off guard. She posted her experience on a local neighborhood Facebook group, where several others told her they, too, had been targets.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department is warning the public about a recent uptick in telephone scam calls targeting residents. The scammers’ ploys have taken many forms.
In another local case, a caller told the victim that his wife and kids were kidnapped, and he needed to send money to free them. The sheriff’s department tells ABC10 other calls include fake arrest warrants. Some viewers said they have received phony calls from the “IRS” regarding back taxes or injured loved ones who need hospital expenses paid, to name a few. In the end, the crooks only want one thing: money.
According to Shaun Hampton with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, they receive reports about these scam calls a few times a day. If you think you might be on the receiving end of a scam call, Hampton suggests making an excuse to get off the phone or ask if you can call back. This works because the scammers a.) don’t want to give you a phone number to reach them and b.) they typically try to keep their victims on the phone throughout the transaction.
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