I had the fright of my life

[Citlali]

I can´t believe what just happened, not 20 minutes ago a man called my father to tell him that they had kidnapped my sister and were going to kill her if he didn`t pay $20000, in the background he could hear a woman crying and beging for her life. My dad almost fainted right there, he started shouting and begging not to hurt her... thats when my husband and I (we all work together in the same clinic) listened to the commotion, so while my husband try to calm my father I tried to get in touch with my sister, is not easy cause she is in a little town in the Andes for one year doing her medical rural service that only has electricity and running water for a couple of hours a day, thank God she has a satellite phone.

She answered, she was perfectly fine (she was cooking dinner) and had no idea what was going on.

We are all shaking, we dont know what just happened, I think is a new theft mode, they were ready to accept what dad had in that very moment (no even close to $20000), they gave him a womans name and ask him to send the money through Western Union.

We called the police, not that we expect them to find anything, and know we are worried, why they chose my dad? Did they know that my sister is not easily contacted? that she is away?

I know my country is not the safest in the world but this is awful, I feel very unsafe at the moment.

[Cyn]

Glad to know that your sister is safe!

Still, the asshole criminals that pulled this stunt need to be hit with the most severe penalty that applies. The ideas that people come up with to perpetrate crimes in this day in age boggles the mind .

[MikiAndoFan#1]

That's terrible. What a stupid prank. Thank God everyone's fine.

[milanessa]

I can't even imagine how frightening that was. I'm so glad your sister is okay and I hope these cretins are caught.

[barbk]

Citlalai -- I'm so glad that your dad wasn't alone. I've read of this scam before -- it is awful. I'd be shaking too.

[Aceon6]

(((Hug))) That's so terrible. Unfortunately, it's getting quite common. Good you had the presence of mind to call your sister before you continued with the thugs.

[IceAlisa]

Glad to hear your sister is safe.

[Wyliefan]

What an awful thing to do!! Thank God your sister's okay.

[RockTheTassel]

How scary! I'm glad your sister is okay. That's a shocking, terrible thing to deal with.

[Citlali]

The police just left, they took all the data we could give them, but I dont believe it´ll do any good , the phone that called was a cel that´s off.
We are driving dad home and spending the night at my parents house, he has heart issues so we rather stay there until he feels better (he is still shaken even after talking to my sister, he says that the woman on the phone crying sounded like her, begging for her life)

I cant believe how evil some people can be

[BittyBug]

Citlali - I can't even imagine the horror - I would be a puddle of tears right now.

You were smart to call the police. If it's any comfort, from what I've read about these types of scams, the perpetrators are generally looking for easy marks. They didn't find one in your father, so they will move on to their next attempted victim. It's probably unlikely that they would try to hit up your family again.

((((((hugs))))))

[shan]

How horrible! (((Citlali and family))) I'm glad your sister is safe.

[genevieve]

I'm so glad that you're sister is really safe, and that you were able to ascertain her safety while your dad was still on the phone, so the amount of panic could be minimized. But I can't even imagine the shock of that call and the cruelty it takes to come up with that fecked up of a scam

About 15 years ago some asshat thought it would be hilarious to call my grandparents in the middle of the night and tell them that my uncle had been arrested for raping a woman. My uncle is mildly autistic - he is very high functioning, has always held a job, had travelled around the country by himself. Socially, he's a little awkward, but he has never caused any problems. My poor grandparents were in the 80s at the time and they were extremely upset by it. This wasn't even any ruse to get $$$, it was just assholery

[genevieve]

I'm so glad that you're sister is really safe, and that you were able to ascertain her safety while your dad was still on the phone, so the amount of panic could be minimized. But I can't even imagine the shock of that call and the cruelty it takes to come up with that fecked up of a scam

About 15 years ago some asshat thought it would be hilarious to call my grandparents in the middle of the night and tell them that my uncle had been arrested for raping a woman. My uncle is mildly autistic - he is very high functioning, lives independently (with a roommate), has always held a job, had travelled around the country by himself. Socially, he's a little awkward, but he has never caused any problems. My poor grandparents were in the 80s at the time and they were extremely upset by it. This wasn't even any ruse to get $$$, it was just assholery

[numbers123]

I am glad you were able to contact your sister and confirm that she was ok. I am glad that you are staying with your dad tonight. I hope that it helps all of you to be together.

[Anita18]

OMG glad to hear your sister was safe the whole time! But to those asshats scamming people like that! It's bad enough when someone pretends to be a long-lost relative begging for money...

[Simone411]

The police just left, they took all the data we could give them, but I dont believe it´ll do any good , the phone that called was a cel that´s off.
We are driving dad home and spending the night at my parents house, he has heart issues so we rather stay there until he feels better (he is still shaken even after talking to my sister, he says that the woman on the phone crying sounded like her, begging for her life)

I cant believe how evil some people can be

I'm so glad your sister is safe and okay. I'm also glad you contacted the police. There's a lot of thugs and rip-off artists that try to take advantage of the elderly. They have ways of finding out who's elderly and then make the call scams to rip them off. It hasn't happened to my family but I do know someone that received a scam call. He realized what was going on, hung up the phone and called the police. I'm glad you're spending the night at your parents house. Hug!

[cruisin]

(((Citlali & family))) I have goose bumps just reading this! The cruelty is just astounding. Thank goodness your sister is okay. Thank goodness you were with your Dad and called your sister and were able to speak with her. Wonderful that you and your husband are staying with your parents tonight. Give your family big hugs.

[victorskid]

Just this evening on the news they were talking about being careful what you post via social media. People use information like the fact that you going to be away and in a hard-to-contact situation to try to scam your family out of money. An example they mentioned was to contact the family indicating that you were in jail/injured/etc. and asking for money to assist you.

Your situation is an extreme example - glad it turned out OK for everyone.

[nubka]

What a nightmare! I can't even imagine going through something like that.