METAIRIE, La. — If a kidnapper was holding your child for ransom and asked for money to release them unharmed, any parent would do what they could to get their child back. What though, if your child was actually safe and it was all a scam to steal your money? That's what happened to one New Orleans area family.
"I have your daughter. We are going to hurt her," is what scammers told Simone Boustead's dad over the phone.
It was 2 o'clock in the morning in May. Boustead's parents received calls from Boustead's phone number, but it wasn't her voice on the other end.
"When it wasn't her voice, I said who is this?" Yvonne Bacchus, Boustead's mother said.
An apparent kidnapper called them using her number while threatening to hurt her if they didn't give them money.
"A kidnapper called him, he heard whimpering in the background," Boustead said about the call to her dad. "They said they were going to hurt me unless he wired a certain sum of money into their account."
The whole time, she was asleep in her Metairie home. The scammers warned Boustead's dad not to call police, but he did and they woke Boustead up knocking on her door. Her dad caught on it could be a fake call and he never sent money.
"I could hear the fear in his voice and he was like, 'Are you alright? Are you alright?' I was like, 'Yeah, I'm fine.' I'm in my pajamas on the porch at 2 a.m. but other than that I'm alright," she recalls.
The FBI calls this 'Virtual Kidnapping' and it's been happening for years, only now the scammers are getting smarter. They research people on social media to find information about them, then 'spoof' a number so it appears to be your loved one calling.
"It looked like a legitimate phone call," Boustead said.
They often ask for a couple thousand dollars. The FBI warns, don't send them money. Slow the situation down while you verify your loved one is actually okay. Call them from another phone. Ask the caller for proof they have them.
"It sounded legitimate. there was wimp crying in the background and it sounded like me. When it's your baby, you're going to do what you can to save them," Boustead said, worried others could easily fall victim to the scam.
Boustead wrote about her experience on a New Orleans Mom blog. You can read it HERE.