BATH
A Bath Iron Workers employee received a frightening call Friday from scammers trying to convince him they’d kidnapped his daughter, prompting Bath police to warn the public about this latest scam tactic.
Bath Police Department responded to the south gate at BIW at 10:54 a.m. after an employee’s supervisor reported that some kind of threatening situation taking place. Police weren’t sure what they were walking into as they arrived to find the employee on his cell phone with someone who told him they had kidnapped his daughter. His daughter is an adult and lives in Gardiner.
“He was distraught and very frantic, believing his daughter was the victim of a kidnapping,” a press release states. “He was able to tell the responding officers that they were demanding money for the release of his daughter. He also said he thought he had heard his daughter screaming in the background.”
He was taken to Bath police headquarters. While he was still on the phone, Bath police requested Gardiner police to go to the daughter’s residence. They located the man’s daughter who was fine and unaware of the situation.
The number the call originated from was 52 656-322-5469. Bath police learned that the number has been used before in similar types of incidents throughout the country.
“This is a scam tactic used in an attempt to get victims to wire money to the scam artists,” the release states. “This tactic is one of many used in attempt to get people to wire money where it ultimately goes to criminal enterprises in other countries.”
Bath Police Lt. Robert Savary estimates the man was on the phone around 15 minutes and said the callers were careful not to demand a significant amount of money. He said would be very difficult to track the phone number down but said if someone does receive one of these calls, they can certainly call police and make a report.
Ultimately he said there is not much police can do other than put information out to the public to help prevent them from falling victim to this scam.
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