Ransom Scam Leaves Riverside Restaurant Worker Poorer: Cops

RIVERSIDE, IL — An employee at a Riverside restaurant paid $1,800 in a ransom scam after she was told her boss was kidnapped, police said Thursday.

About noon Monday, the 37-year-old woman from Chicago, who only speaks Spanish, answered the business phone on an incoming WhatsApp phone call from Mexico, according to a Riverside police news release.

She was told by a man that the restaurant owner, a 51-year-old woman from Cicero, had been kidnapped. The caller demanded $1,800.

The employee said she believed the scam because kidnappings are common in Mexico and parts of the United States, police said.

After three attempts to send the money, the employee was finally able to do so, with it going somewhere in Jalisco, Mexico, according to the news release.

Just after the money was sent, police said, the Spanish-speaking owner returned. The employee realized the kidnapping story was a scam. They attempted to cancel the transaction, but it was too late, police said.

The employee and owner know each other through work and have no personal contact outside the restaurant, police said. They also have no friends or acquaintances in common, so they had no idea how the suspect got the information to target them.

Riverside police said they were able to trace some phone numbers and text messages, but they all returned to original locations in Mexico.

"These two females were targeted because they have a Riverside business, were non-English speaking and have family members that originate from a country where kidnappings are prevalent and ransoms for kidnappings are widespread," Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel said in the news release. "You can understand why the victim believed this was possible. I encourage anyone who receives a phone call that their loved ones are being held as ransom or need bond money for an incident should immediately contact police to see if it's valid."

The chief said Riverside police will take the investigation as far as they can go. But considering some leads go back to Mexico, the department's information will then be turned over to federal authorities for follow-up, he said.

Police did not name the restaurant, but said it was in the central business district.