I had heard of scams where family members were called by someone who claimed to have kidnapped a family member and demanded ransom money, but I had never heard of what happened to me.

Yesterday, I received a frantic phone call from my daughter, who said her car had hit the rear end of the vehicle in front of her when it stopped suddenly, leaving a dent in the car she hit. She was hysterical and said that two men exited the vehicle and told her not to call the police or take pictures. I asked where she was and that I would come, but one man took her phone away and told me not to call the police because they had illegal drugs in the car. They told me they would kill her if the police came.

I told them that I just wanted to pick up my daughter, and they said they would tell me directions to a nearby Walmart on the phone.

I frantically started driving, but the directions were wrong. I kept asking the man where to go, but he just called me horrible names and said that he and his friend were going to rape my daughter. She was screaming hysterically in the background.

I called 911 from my car, explained the situation, and gave the 911 operator the number that the men had used to contact me.

Then I called my daughter and found that she was safe and sound at home!

She told me that she had heard of these scams using AI (artificial intelligence) to replicate the voices of victims. This was news to me.

The St. Louis County Police Department is continuing to investigate this case.

I wanted to write this blog to warn others of this scam.

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