A Lakewood resident is warning others to be vigilant after he fell for a scam which nearly cost him a lot of money.
The victim tells TLS he received a call on his cell phone Sunday afternoon from someone claiming his wife was being held hostage, and if he wanted to save her, would need to pay $5,000 in ransom.
Frightened, and unable to call his wife because he was on his cell phone with the ‘hostage taker’, the resident said he would pay, but didn’t have $5,000 to give them. He negotiated a $1,000 ransom, and was on his way to deliver the cash to a nearby money transfer machine, still being kept on the phone by the ‘hostage taker’.
“The key is, they try to keep you on the phone so you don’t hang up and make any phone calls,” the victim said. (He says later found out these scammers will also attempt to get you to replay ‘yes’ to their questions, which are recorded and used to potentially withdraw funds from an account.)
Luckily, before he made a deposit, the victim received a call from his home, and picked up. It was his wife asking him when he would be home for dinner.
At this point, the resident realized it was a scam, and went to the Lakewood Police station to report it.
When an officer called back the number on caller ID, the scammer reportedly cursed at the officer before hanging up the phone.
YOU GOTTA BE LIVING UNDER A ROCK to fall for this! Who doesn’t know about these scammers?
I mean, I usually tell the scammers that I would pay them double if they can keep my wife…
HA HA!
I have thought about it and after making my enquiries and due diligence I will be able to keep your wife for you but it needs to be a minimum of $25000 per annum.
I would imagine you’d agree that’s a bargain for you!
How about some “due diligence” on your spelling
@seriously
Comment. Poor taste
Doesn’t pas for tlc
wouldnt have worked with me. I would have told them to keep her.
The problem is that they know that you are stuck because even though you are 99.9999% sure it’s a scam, when we’re talking about something so terrible like a wife being taken hostage ch’v, that tiny tiny chance is still something that you can’t ignore. (If it were the shviger that would be something else.) Why doesn’t Mr Knucklehead work on this instead of bullying people trying to live their lives like by buying a beer by the beach? I’ll tell you why – because bullying law abiding citizens who just want to live their lives is easy and going after these scam artists would actually take some effort. I’m very happy for this person that it ended up well. Btw, the other day my sil got a call from a guy on her smartphone claiming that there were suspicious purchases on her Amazon account and that she should open the account on her phone so that he could access it and help her with it. Of course a scam to gain access. Never do anything unless you verify the number and call it back.
To cmon
Don’t be so sensitive. It’s not in poor taste
Obviously, most TLS readers wouldn’t fall for this, and they are shocked that someone did. However, anyone who doesn’t have internet access and doesn’t know these stories, will easily fall for it. Think of your parents if they are over 50, or of any yungerman… It is our responsibility to warn those who don’t read the news.
FYI – I was called today by someone from the “department of labor”… they needed some information – my ss# – to verify and resolve my backpay… it was quite disturbing as I really am waiting for a call back from the DOL regarding backpay…
If they call you, you need to ask them to verify your information. Never give it to someone that calls you.
Never give anyone any info over the phone. If they are legitimate, and they need something from you they will figure it out. There are text message scams for free stuff that ppl fall for. You click on it and who knows where it takes you. A legitimate company or agency will give you a call back number and will never ask for your full social or stuff like that. Use your own instincts
Do people still think making jokes about how much they hate their wife is funny? It’s sad actually. Give her a divorce and move on