Phone Scam Claims Family Members Being Held Hostage

The Aurora Police Department is alerting the community to a scam that has been permeating the city in recent days that revolves around people receiving ransom demands for family members that have supposedly been injured in accidents, according to a release from the department.

Aurora police have answered several calls in the past week and so far have not learned of anyone giving into the demands and losing any money.

Although there have been variations reported to Aurora police, the attempted scams generally begin when a phone call is received and the caller does not identify themselves. They go on to tell whoever answers the phone that one of their family members, whom they call by name, has been involved in an accident and he or she is being held hostage. They then demand money or the family member will be killed. The telephone numbers from which the calls are supposedly being placed are mostly local area codes. Some of the calls have come from scammers fluent in Spanish.

Police say the targets of these calls become upset mostly because family members are mentioned by name and that the calls seem to be placed locally. However, police would like to remind citizens that the detailed information is easily accessible via the Internet or social media and specialized devices can spoof caller IDs to indicate local calls.

Police say anyone receiving similar calls can verify the well-being of their family member by calling or texting their cell phone.

Anyone who receives a phone call like this is urged to call the police.