Greg's Corner

Spring break is the season of kidnapping scams

By Greg Collier

It’s getting to be that time of year when college students from around the country descend on locales with warmer climates. Of course, I’m talking about Spring Break. While the US has many beach hotspots students can enjoy, many will choose to go outside the country to try to maximize their Spring Break experience. Whether it’s the Caribbean, Central America, or overseas, Spring Breakers should be relatively safe as long as they don’t stray from the tourist areas. However, scammers are hoping that the parents of Spring Breakers are not so sure about the safety of their college-aged children.

The FBI is advising they see an increase in the virtual kidnapping scam during Spring Break since so many students are traversing in and out of the country. As you may have heard, in the virtual kidnapping scam, scammers will have claimed to have kidnapped a loved one and will demand a ransom. Meanwhile, your loved one is actually safe and has no idea their well-being is being used in a scam. The reason we’re focusing this time on students traveling outside the country is because kidnappings for ransom are quite rare in the United States. That doesn’t mean the scam doesn’t take place in the US. You can read more about those here.

The FBI is saying that during Spring Break, these scammers will claim to be from a drug cartel or corrupt police department. The scammers will then demand a ransom in some untraceable form, such as gift cards or money transfer. There might even be someone in the background of the phone call screaming, pretending to be the supposed kidnap victim. The scammers will also try to keep you on the phone, so you don’t have a chance to try to contact your loved one. However, that’s precisely what you should do. Try to contact your loved one on another device as quickly as possible. Keep the scammers on the phone by repeating their orders, and tell them you’re writing their instructions down. Don’t volunteer any information to the callers, they can use that against you during the call. In numerous instances, the scammers will use information they’ve taken from social media to make it seem like they have your loved one held hostage.

The best way to avoid falling victim to this scam is to set up a code word of sorts between you and your kids, who are traveling for Spring Break. This way, you should be able to immediately identify if your children are in actual danger.