Scammers claiming to be a Mexican Cartel holding your loved one hostage is one example of a terrifying scam that has one local Sheriff's Department sending out a warning: Don't give them your money.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's office said they got six or seven reports of these terrifying calls over the weekend. Luckily they all turned out to be fake. But it wasn't what Kyle Cooper expected on a Sunday.
"They had my girlfriend and he was trying to drop off a package for the Mexican cartel," Cooper said.
Cooper's girlfriend was going to a Bucks Game. He said it seemed possible kidnappers could have her.
"I tried to even get her to say my name and then he'd get back on the phone and say don't try anything funny or I will kill her," he said.
Cooper jumped in the car.
"He wanted me to actually go to the ATM and bring him money," he said.
That's when he got a text from his girlfriend saying "OK, I'm coming home." Cooper turned the tables on the scammers.
"Well that's alright I don't love her that much anyways. The cops will be there in a couple seconds," he said he told them.
That's one suggestion law enforcement has for handling these calls is to test the supposed kidnappers. An officer tells TODAY'S TMJ4, they often don't even know the person's name.
"After that they just said okay, I'm sorry sir and hung up."
In most calls this weekend, the Jefferson Police Department tells us the people supposedly kidnapped were home with their families.
They haven't gotten any calls about this since the weekend, but if you do get a call they want you to report it. They said they track these trends to find out if they're happening just here or all across the area.
