South Elgin Mother, Daughter Lose $5K In Fake Kidnapping Scam

SOUTH ELGIN, IL — A South Elgin family is down nearly $6,000 after an elaborate phone scam, according to reports. Both the mother and daughter of the family were called separately, the scammers telling them very different lies.

Hannah Kosek, 18, was called last Wednesday by people claiming to be from the Kane County Sheriff's office and told she had skipped out on jury duty and needed to pay her bail in order to avoid jail. They told her to do so by emptying her bank account and telling her to go to a nearby Jewel and buy money cards, then transfer the funds to them, FOX32 reported.

They asked her questions, eventually getting her mother's phone number as well. “I started to get very emotional, and they’re like telling me, don't get emotional, you're fine, you're fine,” Hannah said, according to FOX32. They kept her on the phone for several hours, telling her if she made another phone call she would be locked up.

Meanwhile, the scammers called Kosek's mother, Tina Pelinski, from Hannah's phone number, claiming they had kidnapped her.

"Two males voices on the other end, explaining to me they had my daughter and that I needed to get ransom money or they were going to rape or kill her," said Pelinski, according to NBC Chicago.

Like any mother, Pelinski complied, presumably believing that since the phone call had come from her daughter's number, it must have been from her phone, but it wasn't.

The scammers also used the information they got from Kosek to convince Pelinski that the kidnapping was real. They told Pelinski that Hannah "had a pretty faith tattoo or a pretty tattoo under her arm, that had the word faith on it, and if I didn't comply with their orders, they were going to cut that off and send it to me,” Tina said, FOX32 reported.

She was told to stay on the line and not to call police, according to NBC, and was told to buy prepaid credit cards from local businesses. The call lasted for hours, with the scammers encouraging Pelinski to keep purchasing cards and to lie to store clerks who inquired about why she was buying the cards.

"I just said it's for a Christmas party at work...and I'm getting reassurance from the alleged kidnappers (on the phone), saying 'that's a good job. That's a good story you're telling them,'" NBC reported Pelinski as saying.

Kosek was found by her father after nearly five hours on the phone and Pelinski had to be convinced by police that the kidnapping was a scam, according to reports. They found her still on the phone with the scammers at a local business.

Hannah's brother, Justin Kosek, set up a GoFundMe page to help the family recuperate the losses they experienced. Of the $5,000 goal, the page has so far raised $3,250 as of the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 28. They've received 43 donations ranging from $10 to $1,000 in the past seven days.

The FBI is calling such scams "virtual kidnappings," and they are on the rise in the area. If this happens to you, FBI Chicago Media Coordinator Garret Croon says, “You start making calls. You start making contacts with your friends and family. Try to get ahold of that person who's being held and find out what's really going on.”

Police remind citizens that government agencies never call people demanding money cards as payment.

Article image via GoFundMe