When I was in my 20’s, my apartment was broken into and I was cleaned out. That is the only significant crime that happened directly to me.

However, my 75 year old aunt was a very recent victim of a more serious crime. She was a victim of one of those telephone kidnapping scams. The perpetrators convinced her that her daughter was kidnapped, and had her running around the state for over 30 hours, extorting her for $8000 over that period. Although she eventually learned that it was a hoax, and that her daughter was fine, the experience was extremely traumatizing. It happened about a month ago, and she is still suffering from PTSD symptoms.

Everyone needs to be made aware of this scam. If you get a phone call saying that a loved one has been kidnapped, it is useful to know the typical specifics of the scam: (1) they impersonate your loved one with screaming sounds in the background, (2) they insist that you stay on the phone and NEVER hang up, (3) they keep you moving non-stop, (4) they may spoof your loved-one’s phone so you think that they have his/her cell phone, (5) they claim that actually they are hitmen and that your loved-one was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, witnessing their hit (this latter is to convince you that they have no problem killing him/her).