4 Winnipeggers targeted by virtual kidnapping scam

The virtual kidnappingscam keeps surfacing in Winnipeg, prompting more warnings from police after two incidents on Monday.

The scam, which has been around for a number of years but only recently was reported in the city, is an extortion scheme thattricks a victim into paying ransom to free a loved one.

The thing is,no one has been kidnapped, but the scam victims are threatened and coerced into believingit's happened.

"The threats are often made over the phone from an unfamiliar or private number and sometimes involve a male or female purporting to be the kidnappedloved one during the call in an attempt to add credibility," police said.

The Winnipeg Police Service received two reports of thefraud in early January. The victims wired funds to an out-of-country area code.

The other two incidents happened an hour apart on Monday. In one case,a victim was attempting to wire moneyto Mexicobut was stopped by an employee at the post office, who was suspicious of the story, police said.

In the other instance, the target a parentwas panicked for some time after being told theirdaughter had been kidnapped, police said. The parent couldn't reach her for a while but when they finally did, the daughter was fine, though a bit confused since nothing had happened.

Police spokesman Const. Jay Murray said the fraudstersarecold-calling people and in many cases, they strike out.

"They might tell someone, 'We have your daughter' butthe guy says 'I don't have a daughter' and hangs up.Then they try another number," Murray said.

Sometimes, as in the case where the parent couldn't contact the daughter, there's enough of a coincidence to give rise to concern, he said, noting another example was when a loved one was actually in Mexico on vacation.

To the person targeted by the scam, it seemed like it could have been real even though it wasn't, Murray said.

In all cases, the ransom demanded by the scammershas beenless than $5,000.

AnFBI website about virtual kidnappingsays the scam has been around for two decades or more, but only recently started targeting English-speaking victims.

Previous versions attempted to extortSpanish speakers in the U.S.

The FBI website says people confronted with this scamshould hang upimmediately and try to contact their loved one. The agency advises against wiring the ransom, and says you should never attempt to deliver money in person.

Winnipeg police are asking people targeted by thescam tocall them at 204-986-6222or report it to theCanadian Anti-Fraud Centre.