Concerns over fake kidnapping scam targeting parents in the US

Having a child kidnapped is among the worst possible fears a parent has.

Now criminals in the US are trying to take advantage of that with a frightening hoax. Mum Kelly Nelson from Ravensdale, Washington received a phone call from a blocked number while at home last week. She picked up and was confused to hear a young girl crying.   "And then a man got the phone and said, 'is this Kelly? We have Rebecca,'" she told local station KOMO. Rebecca is Kelly's 13-year-old daughter who she thought was at school. The man said he wanted money from Kelly or he'd hurt the girl. Terrified, she quickly negotiated a ransom fee of $500. He asked her to come and meet him with the money. "Until I could say my kid was at school, I was just in panic mode," Kelly said. Her husband quickly rang Rebecca's school, which confirmed that the girl was safely in class. Kelly stayed on the phone with the scammer while her husband contacted the police. She began to notice holes in his story - he used her maiden name and didn't seem to know the local area well, despite claiming to be around there. Another parent, a dad in nearby town White Center, received a similar phone call a few days later. The call began with a girl coming on the phone claiming she was his daughter and that she'd been taken. "He obviously knew his daughter's voice and that it wasn't her voice," said Sgt Abbott of the King County Sheriff's Office. "She said that she had been kidnapped, that if the dad didn't bring money to this guy, that he was going to kill her." Parents have been urged to report any similar calls.