Texas Mom Warns of Terrifying New Scam: 'I Thought That Somebody Had My Baby'
More often than not, the scams that make the news focus on elderly victims. People seeking to take advantage of that vulnerable group do so by preying on their technological naivete and trusting nature. But one young…
More often than not, the scams that make the news focus on elderly victims. People seeking to take advantage of that vulnerable group do so by preying on their technological naivete and trusting nature.
But one young mother in Austin, Texas, knows that elderly people aren’t the only targets after she nearly fell victim to a manipulative opportunist.
Pye Brown’s young daughter was the bait when she got a call from someone claiming to be a police officer.
He told her that her daughter had been in a car accident. The number had a local area code, and the man gave her his name and badge number.
He reassured Brown that the girl was uninjured but said someone needed to pick her up. Then she heard a crying child.
“A child got on the phone and was crying for their mama,” Brown told KVUE-TV in Austin.
In a moment, the script flipped. Now the man claimed to be holding the girl hostage — not an impossibility, as her daughter was being watched by a nanny that day.
“He started using a harsh voice and told me that he used that story to get my attention and that my daughter was in the wrong place at the wrong time and that he had her,” Brown said.
“He claimed to be in a Mexican drug gang and that I need to listen carefully to his instructions.”
Brown started to panic, as any caring parent would in that situation.