Thread by @ebmalinzakMD

This is crazy but sharing for safety purposes. Please retweet!

Something very scary happened to my brother yesterday and I want everyone to learn from it.

@RUBraveEnough @SashaShillcutt @EMARIANOMD @JulieSilverMD @AmyPearsonMD @HarrietHopfMD

My brother received a phone call from my phone # (with my name attached to it). When he picked it up, he heard a woman screaming & a man on the line told him that he had me & was going to kill me. He then tried to extort my brother by telling him to download CashApp & send $$.

My brother was awesome because as freaked out as he was, he stayed calm, kept the guy on the phone & asked appropriate questions for proof of life, while my sister-in-law called the police. My sister-in-law was reached me on my cell phone to know I was ok.

Eventually, after 18 minutes, the guy hung up. In the aftermath, we learned this is virtual kidnapping. Neither my brother’s police dept nor the My police dept had heard of a case of this in their jurisdiction. However, the FBI alerted in March that this is a growing scam.

If this happens to you, call or text the person who is supposedly calling you to ensure their safety. Then call the police & report to the FTC. My brother had screen shots of the CashApp ID and a recording of the last 11 minutes of the call that we turned over to the police.

My phone # was “spoofed”...ie like robocalls or using the Doximity app to call patients from a hospital phone # instead of your personal cell. Apparently the scammer tried my husband’s phone first as I received a call at 12:11 from him asking if I called him (which I didn’t.)

At 12:12 the scammer called my brother. How did the scammer figure out my family members’ phone #s? No one has been able to explain this as none of my other contacts were called. I think the scammer found phone records from a day where I talked only to my brother and husband.

The Durham police encouraged me to post this experience on social media, so please share widely to educate others.