Criminals are using AI and clever tactics to scare parents into paying ransom

January 13, 2024

By Kim Komando

Picture this: Your phone rings and it’s a familiar number. You answer and an unsettling voice tells you they have your kid. The only way to get your son or daughter back alive is to send money.

It gets worse. Your child gets on the phone and directly pleads with you for help. You see a picture of them in chains. You watch a video of them crying. Now you’re panicking. 

So you wire a large sum of money to the kidnappers, pray and wait. Hours go by and nothing. At some point, you discover your child was never in danger. That voice was AI-generated. If you saw a video, it was deep-faked.

That’s what happens to the victim of a cyber kidnapping scheme. And these awful scams are becoming all too common.

Virtual insanity

Cyber kidnappings have been around since the ’90s. Just like an old-school extortion scheme, crooks convince people their family members are in danger and will let them go in exchange for cold, hard cash. 

But today, we have AI, smartphones and advanced video technology that turn these scams into something even crazier … and a lot more lucrative. Criminals have profited billions off unsuspecting victims. 

Just this past New Year’s Eve, a 17-year-old Chinese exchange student was rescued by police in Utah. Somehow, cyber kidnappers convinced him to flee his American host family and isolate himself in a tent outside of town.

He was instructed to snap pictures of himself and make it look like he was being held in captivity, which the criminals then sent to his family in China. After getting bombarded with threats, his poor parents sent the crooks a whopping $80,000 to set him free. 

It’s not clear what exactly convinced the young man to go along with the scheme, but thankfully, he made it out safely — well, except for the extreme brainwashing he experienced. 

I saw the sign

How do you spot a cyber kidnapping attempt? The National Institute of Health offered some key warning signs: 

• Calls usually don’t come from the alleged kidnapped victim’s phone.
• Often, scammers will make incoming calls from an outside area code. Puerto Rico is common, with area codes (787), (939) and (856).
• Callers prevent you from contacting or locating the kidnapped victim and go to great lengths to keep you on the phone.
• Ransom money is only accepted via wire transfer service.

One way to safeguard yourself is to check your privacy settings on social media accounts and consider stepping them up. The more information you make public, the more ammo you give to thieves. 

To catch a cyber kidnapper

I hope you never, ever find yourself in this situation. Real or not, it’s terrifying. Here’s what to do if you do encounter something like this.

• Ask to speak to the victim directly or request they let the victim call you back from their own phone.
• If the caller says no, tell them to describe the person or ask questions that only the victim would know the answer to. 
• If you do talk to the victim, listen carefully. Take note of anything that sounds off in their voice.
• While on the line with the kidnappers, contact the victim through a call, text or social media message and ask them to call you from their phone. Use another phone if yours is being used to speak to the criminal. 
• Buy some time by repeating the caller’s requests. Tell them you’re writing things down and want to confirm. 
• As soon as you can, contact your local police department.