Oregon City Police Warn of Phone Scam

If you answer your phone and the person on the other end says that your spouse has been kidnapped - chances are quite like it is a scam.

The Oregon City Police Department sent out a warning Thursday that people have been getting those calls.

The caller - usually a male - knows the name of the person's wife and says he is going to start cutting off her fingers and toes and send pictures to him.

The person who answered the phone he could hear a woman screaming in the background and that the caller said his wife had messed with the wrong people.

The husband was then told if he called the police his wife would be chopped up.

The man recognized it as a scam - even though the caller knew his wife's name.

Oregon City Police say the call appears to come from area code 492.

The department offers several tips that they say everyone should be aware of:

Contact your family member immediately to determine his/her safety.

Please note that criminals look at social media sites such as Facebook to find out information about your family and family members.

This information can include family members ages, appearance, relatives, vehicles, family events, school, activities and location. They will use such information in the threat to make the threat appear credible.

Please be careful about sharing personal and family information on social media sites.