Virtual kidnapping scam reaches Costa del Sol

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A MALAGA mother went through a waking nightmare when she fell for a new fake kidnapping scam that has reached the province.

The woman spent three hours going around the city glued to her mobile phone following orders a voice on the line gave to get her hands on money and send it to the ‘kidnappers.’

Although her daughter was actually safe at home, the woman believed the voice when it told her she had been kidnapped after hearing sobs in the background.

“If you hang up, we’ll kill her,” the voice said, before leading her on a terrified treasure hunt for funds, which took her to El Corte Ingles, the only place she was carrying a card for, to buy a mobile phone.

She was later ordered to sell it at a city pawn shop and pay the money into a bank account.

Meanwhile the woman’s husband and police tried desperately to find her after realising what was happening.

An increasing number of cases of these fake kidnaps have been reported across Spain recently, with six registered in Marbella and Malaga in just one week.

The scam is believed to have been started in South American jails, and callers use mobile phones and google maps to find victims who they trick into believing that their loved-ones have been kidnapped and demand ransoms, which tend to start at €10,000 but are quickly reduced if not met.

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