Today has been one of the most conflicting days I’ve had in a really long time. It’s been fun and nice and full of friends but also I’ve just been inexplicably sad pretty much all day and then this afternoon I got a call from the lowest fucking scumbag scammers I’ve ever encountered.
Looking back none of it really added up but I was in such an emotional state that I didn’t really connect any of the dots until emotional damage had already been done. Got a call from some guy, first off claiming to be an EMT, saying that my dad had been in an accident and was in critical condition. Then the conversation progressed once they got enough info from me and I was panicking and they informed me that they were in fact kidnappers and had my dad, mom, and sister for ransom (I filled in the mom and sister blanks for them and didn’t even realize it) with a gun to my dad’s head.
Conversation progressed further with me panicking and holding off tears and trying to remain calm and not make any obvious attempts to alert friends. I managed to get one of my friends to call my dad and found out they were okay and, in fact, weren’t kidnapped I and immediately hung up on the scammers and broke down crying to my dad and mom over the phone and it was miserable.
I could never imagine the trauma involved in dealing with kidnappings but I saw a glimpse and it was utterly terrifying. It’s disgusting to think that people would take advantage of and exploit that emotion.
Here’s a link from a quick google search about the scam, there are some tips at the bottom for dealing with it and a more detailed explanation of it as well. They used a lot of methods to get me to fill in the blanks in order to get more details and make the whole thing more convincing.
http://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-warns-of-virtual-kidnapping-scam-in-nyc-2015-1?r=UK&IR=T