Mount Kisco Man Reports Grandchild Scam Attempt: Westchester County Police

MOUNT KISCO, NY — A village resident recently reported that he had received fraudulent text messages claiming that his son had been kidnapped and demanding a ransom. The text messages also contained a photo of the man’s son. Westchester County police determined that the texts were coming from overseas and the photo had been obtained from the man’s Facebook page.

Officers assisted the man in changing the privacy settings on his Facebook page and in blocking any additional texts from the overseas number.

County police said the intended victim of this scam knew where his son was and that his son was safe. But he wanted to report the fraud attempt to the police.

They warn that this is a scam that often targets senior citizens. Sometimes the claim is that a child or grandchild has been arrested and bail money needs to be sent. Other times, as in this instance, the claim is that a kidnapping has occurred and a ransom is required. Anyone who receives a similar email or text, and has a concern about the safety or status of a relative, can contact the police for assistance.

Never send anyone any money in response to contacts of this kind, county police said.

Also, county police said: As for social media, some users do prefer to use the least-restrictive privacy settings to enable the most people to see their postings. Be aware that this might expose you to fraud attempts because people you don’t know can access personal information from your postings, including the names of family members and details on anyone in the family who is on vacation or traveling on business out-of-state or overseas. Limiting access to your social media to those you know will help to avoid these and other kinds of fraud attempts.