Community Alert About Kidnapping/Extortion Scam

We want to alert members of our community about a scam that’s impacted some of our residents. The suspect or suspects are telling victims that their family member has been kidnapped and then demanding money.

In the last month, we’ve received reports of more than one dozen of these cases in Prince George’s County. In each case, a man calls a family member directly and demands money be transferred to a bank in Puerto Rico in return for their kidnapped family member’s safe return. Many of these calls are coming from a “240” area code. The scammer(s) have successfully received a money transfer from some of their targeted victims. Preliminarily, it’s believed the suspect is identifying victims through social media.

We are investigating these incidents with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Prince George’s County Police Department’s Robbery Unit at (301) 772-4905.  Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411 TIPS (8477), text “PGPD plus your message” to CRIMES (274637) on your cell phone, or go to http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/police/ to submit a tip online.