GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A local family is out hundreds of dollars after a bizarre scam targeting a teenage girl who the family thought had been abducted.
Gwinnett County police said that on Feb. 21, a local father reported that his 18-year-old daughter had been abducted.
“The father said that somebody contacted him via a text messaging app that his daughter was in their custody, and they were demanding $15,000 for her safe return. They asked for an initial payment of $440, which the father sent,” police said.
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The father, who wasn’t identified, told police that his daughter was last seen leaving her apartment on Sweetwater Road in Lawrenceville around 1:30 p.m.
Gwinnett County Police called in the FBI to assist with the case.
Over two days, the agencies searched for the teen while also getting requests from the kidnappers for various amounts of money.
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Early in the morning on Feb. 23, an undercover officer spotted the teen walking down Sweetwater Road. The officer picked her up and she was united with her family.
The teen told detectives that a person called her and told her they were from the Mexican government and that her phone was being used to make death threats to Mexican authorities.
When the victim denied the claims, the caller told her that she and her family were now in danger of being targeted further by “hackers” who were using her phone number to make the threats.
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The suspects used the photos to pretend they were holding the victim and as “proof of life.”
In the meantime, the teen left her apartment in fear of the “hackers” and camped out alone at a lake near her apartment.
After two days, her phone battery started to die, so she left the woods to find a charger. That’s when the officer spotted her.
The suspects involved in this incident are believed to be in Mexico, and their identities are unknown. Anyone with any information to share in this case is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers of Greater Atlanta at 404-577-8477.