Dan Glaun |
[email protected] By Dan Glaun |
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on March 11, 2015 at 7:00 AM, updated March 11, 2015 at 7:53 AM
Police investigate kidnapping scam at Westfield Bank
westfield-bank.jpg
The Westfield Bank on East Main Street, where police responded to a kidnaping scam. (Dan Glaun)
The phone callers said they were drug dealers, and that they had taken Ricky Williams' brother. The brother had crashed into the kidnapper's BMW and injured a baby, they said, and now they demanded a ransom.
None of it, however, was true.
Westfield police responded Tuesday afternoon to the latest example of a kidnapping scam that has drawn FBI scrutiny in recent months. Williams, a 21-year-old New Bedford resident, received a call from the supposed kidnappers, claiming they had taken his brother Jamal prisoner in Providence, Rhode Island, according to a police report.
Williams was attempting to take out a loan at Westfield Bank on East Main Street to pay the ransom when Westfield officers responded to a call for assistance from the New Bedford police department, who had received a call from Williams' concerned parents.
Officers talked with Williams in the parking lot of the bank, contacted his parents and assured him his brother was safe.
Williams is far from the only victim of kidnap scammers. An FBI advisory released in January warned New York City residents of the con, describing a range of tactics used to terrify victims into paying up. Some scammers say a relative has been injured, and their friend -- a gang member -- will not let them receive medical treatment until a ransom is paid. Others use accomplices, including having a woman screaming in the background to convince a mark that his or her daughter has been kidnapped. And some, like in Williams' case, say the relative was taken after a car accident.
Similar scams also targeted Spanish-speaking Western Massachusetts residents in 2012, with police in Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke and Westfield describing incidents to The Republican.
The phone number used to threaten Williams was 401-710-1580, according to the police report. When reached by MassLive, a man using that number declined to identify himself and claimed no knowledge of the scam.
"I bought this phone like 20 minutes ago," he said.
A comment thread on 800notes.com features reports of scams from that number dating back to late February.
"DO NOT BELIEVE THIS SCAMMER!" wrote a commenter on thread. "They called me today saying the same story ... my brother hit a BMW, they have him hostage, they want $1,500 cash to fix the damage, don't want me to see their faces for pick up, or else they'll 'put a bullet in his head.'"